Monthly Archives: April 2022
Why People Struggle with Being Vulnerable
People quite often like to categorise emotions as being good or bad, with emotions such as anger and self-pity being thought of as bad or weak.
Emotions such as gratitude and a positive outlook are thought of as good healthy emotional states. Truth is that judgement of any emotional state is itself counterproductive. Emotions are neither good nor bad themselves, neither strong nor weak, they simply are.
What Does it Mean to Respect Boundaries?
Quite a simple question in many ways, but one that many people struggle with, both in terms of trying to set boundaries of their own, and dealing with other people who don’t respect, or don’t seem able to respect anyone else’s boundaries at all.
The issue of boundaries is not unique to people in 12-step recovery but is perhaps more acute because so many of them have grown up either in alcoholic homes or enmeshed homes of one type or another.
What Does Rigorous Honesty Really Mean ?
The term rigorous honesty is used a lot in Alcoholics Anonymous, and in the 12-step recovery world generally.
Its original intent was to make clear the need for people to own and take responsibility for the reality of their lives, both internally and externally.
Pray As You Can Not As You Can’t
The phrase ‘pray as you can not as you cannot’ isn’t terribly well known to a lot of people, but to those who do know it and use it as a literal guide to prayer, it can be an absolute lifesaver.
The phrase originated from a monk at Downside, John Chapman, Abbot in the 1930s, and is as relevant today as it was then.
As with many words and phrases that seem almost overly simplistic, the real strength in many ways lies behind the words, both in terms of intent and freedom.
Why do People find it Hard to Believe in God?
Most people have normally been asked at some point in their life if they believe in God or not.
In AA and 12 step recovery generally, people are likely to be asked this question more than once, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly and quite often in fairly intense and overbearing circumstances.