August 19th, 2008
And the only thing it has to do with AA is that an AA friend sent it to me…
A gorgeous young redhead goes into the doctor’s office and said that her body hurt wherever she touched it.
“Impossible!” says the doctor. “Show me.”
The redhead took her finger, pushed on her left side and screamed, then she pushed her elbow and screamed even more. She pushed her knee and screamed; likewise she pushed her ankle and screamed. Everywhere she touched made her scream.
The doctor said, “You’re not really a redhead, are you?
“Well, no” she said, “I’m actually a blonde.”
“I thought so,” the doctor said. “Your finger is broken.”
And - oh yeah, I love redheads… Laff - Dammit!!! :)
Tags: AA Humor, alcoholics-anonymous, gratitude, RecoveryShare This
By Mark -- 0 comments
August 19th, 2008
After you’ve had the magnificent opportunity to have been a satisfied customer of Alcoholics Anonymous for some time you gather what is called “experience.” With that experience along with the Twelve Steps, there also comes a moment now and then when you “intuitively know how to handle situations that used to baffle us.”
One such moment occurred in the last day or so when I “listened” to a fellow alcoholic share in a general way and use words that offer someone whose seen them before, some intuitive insight that this person wasn’t quite right emotionally.
Read More
Tags: 1st-step, 3rd-step, alcoholics-anonymous, Common Sense, Living SoberShare This
By Mark -- 4 comments
August 18th, 2008
I was speaking with a female friend yesterday. A couple of months ago her daughter gave birth to her first grandchild.
Not long after the baby was born the mother and, more specifically, the father, returned to their addictions. Mom could very well be a “social” experimenter but Dad is certainly one of “us.” He has come and gone a number of times in the last 9 years yet has not been able to remain clean or sober.
Within a short time, the baby’s parent’s had resorted to calling in bogus prescriptions for xanax, again. The law enforcement community here knows the father to the extent that he has been banned from filling prescriptions in any pharmacy in the county, yet they tried.
They were caught. Not exactly rocket science…
Read More
Tags: 1st-Tradition, 3rd-Tradition, alcoholics-anonymous, Common Sense, Living SoberShare This
By Mark -- 4 comments
August 15th, 2008
A good friend (who sometimes visits here - ah hem) forwarded this to me today (sounds familiar);
The Cuckoo Clock
“Shortly after I got married, I was invited out for a “night out with the boys.” I told the wife that I would be home by midnight… I Promise!
Well, the yarns were being spun and the grog was going down easy, and at around 3 am, drunk as a skunk, I went home. Just as I got in the door, the cuckoo clock started, and cuckooed 3 times. Quickly, I realized she’d probably wake up, so I cuckooed another 9 times.
I was really proud of myself for having the presence of mind, even when smashed, to escape a possible conflict. Next morning the wife asked me what time I got in. I told her 12 o’clock.
“Oh”, she said, “that’s nice”. Whew! Got away with that one!
Then she told me that we needed a new cuckoo clock. When I asked why, she said, “Well, at 3 o’clock, it cuckooed 3 times, then cuckooed another 4 times, cleared its throat, cuckooed another 3 times, farted, then cuckooed twice more and then started giggling.”
Tags: 12-Steps, alcoholics-anonymous, gratitude, Recovery HumorShare This
By Mark -- 1 comment
August 15th, 2008
Knowing I’m not alone, it was part and parcel of the deal - from today’s reading;
Didn’t We Hurt Anybody?
“Some of us, though, tripped over a very different snag. We clung to the claim that when drinking we never hurt anybody but ourselves.”
Wow, were we ever self-centered??? Yet, that was what I believed and it was the point! Though I wasn’t up to task. When the time came (and it did often) I couldn’t pull the final “plug.” Thank God…
“My parents, who had been deeply hurt by my isolation from them, my employer, who worried about my absences, my memory lapses, my temper; and the friends I had shunned, without explanation. As I faced the reality of the harm I had done, Step Eight took on new meaning. I am no longer uncomfortable and I feel clean and light.”
[The book doesn’t mention (in this reading) the harm I did my wife and children, those I loved the most and caused the most harm. I’ll mention it to satisfy my critics.]
Tags: 8th-step, admissions of harm, emotional wounds, sobriety, thoroughnessShare This
By Mark -- 0 comments
August 14th, 2008
Buddy T. offers to help you at About.com.
Al-Anon Quiz - Are You Troubled By Someone’s Drinking?
“Millions of people are affected by the excessive drinking of someone close. Many times people who are close to alcoholics do not even realize how much they have been affected by someone else’s drinking.”
Buddy offers you this quiz to help you decide whether the Al-Anon Family groups might work for you.
One specific question that rings a bell with me - “Do you feel that if the drinker cared about you, he or she would stop drinking to please you?”
Buddy also offers you a resource for finding Al-Anon meetings in your local (USA) area. Follow this link.
Tags: al-anon, al-anon meeting list, alcoholics-anonymous, Hope, Recovery, twelve-stepsShare This
By Mark -- 0 comments
August 13th, 2008
To continue the “What A Concept” thoughts…
We return to “Living Sober”
and page 12;
“We’ll meet some people in A.A. or elsewhere who won’t be exactly crazy about us, either. So all of us try to respect the rights of others to act as they choose (or must). We can then expect them to give us the same courtesy. In A.A., they generally do.”
I’m not so sure I want to develop expectations along those lines.
This goes on to say: “Usually, people who like each other - in a neighborhood, a company, a club, or A.A. - gravitate toward each other. When we spend time with people we like, we are less annoyed by those we don’t particularly care for.”
The interesting concept then follows;
“As time goes on, we find we are not afraid simply to walk away from people who irritate us, instead of meekly letting them get under our skin, or instead of trying to straighten them out just so they will suit us better.”
Yes, Micky/David/Patrick is a PIA. Walk away… what a concept! We can walk away from irritation. :)
Tags: 1st-Tradition, 3rd-Tradition, alcoholics-anonymous, Common Sense, Living SoberShare This
By Mark -- 0 comments
August 12th, 2008
If you happen to be headed to the United Kingdom and want to find a meeting;
‘How to find AA’ in England, Scotland and Wales, UK.
There’s a searchable database of meetings for England, Scotland and Wales.
And a complete list of AA events happening between now and April of next year.
Plus - the National Helpline Number:- 0845 76 97 555
Tags: 12-Steps, aa-in-the-UK, aa-meetings, RecoveryShare This
By Mark -- 1 comment
August 11th, 2008
Today’s Daily Reflections
speaks of removing the ground glass in us. Damn - that’s sounds and “feels” painful…
Remember, from the Seventh Step;
“In every case, pain had been the price of admission into a new life.”
I’d asked God for dozens of do-overs, never believing there was any hope. In addition, I sure didn’t exactly perceive that were I to be graced with a new life that, by necessity, it would have to be born through pain!
“But this admission price had purchased more than we expected. It brought a measure of humility, which we soon discovered to be a healer of pain.”
In our Eighth Step we discover more about pain: “I learned that the pain of my defects is the very substance God uses to cleanse my character and to set me free.”
We might want to consider embracing our pain as we grow…
Tags: 7th-step, 8th-step, alcoholics-anonymous, humility, RecoveryShare This
By Mark -- 1 comment
August 10th, 2008
Tell ya’ what - the very next time you hear a speaker announced as having a “great” story… invite their family, their parole officer, the families of the people they hurt, their employers and the folks they hurt at work. Invite their mental health counselors (if they have one), their Doctor and their attorney. Oh, and don’t forget the newspaper reporter who wrote the last piece about their actions in public places.
When all those folks are in attendance, poll them. Ask them how “great” this person’s story is on a scale of 1-10.
There used to be a drawing posted at the Patchogue group on L.I. at St. Joe’s. It said something like this: “Thank you God for we can laugh today, but, please God, don’t let us forget how much we cried.”
I’d add to not let us forget how many tears we caused others.
Tags: AA speakers, alcoholics-anonymous, legacy, Primary-Purpose, RealityShare This
By Mark -- 2 comments
Recent Comments