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12 Step Program

Doing Esteemable Things ………..

Doing esteemable things is a piece of advice often given to people in recovery who struggle with the own self-image or self-esteem. Whilst it may seem practical to make yourself feel better by doing good […]

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12 Step Program

Let it begin with me ….

Let it begin with me is perhaps one of the less well-known slogans in recovery, perhaps more commonly associated with Al-Anon or Coda, but it is definitely one of the more effective sayings in helping […]

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12 Step Program

What Do Character Defects Really Mean?

What Are Character Defects? The phrase ‘character defects’ is often used in 12 Step Recovery, unfortunately not in the context that it was originally intended. This often leads to a more judgmental approach by people […]

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12 Step Program

The Sobriety Handbook

Available Here -The Sobriety Handbook What is Sobriety – What does it mean? What seems like a really simple question takes on a very different meaning for someone who has struggled with a serious drink […]

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12 Step Program

How Gentle is a 12 Step Program?

Being gentle and being kind, especially to oneself, are in many ways at the heart of recovery from alcoholism but often get overlooked by a more macho do-or-die culture. Early Recovery It is probably fair […]

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12 Step Program

What is a Dry Drunk?

The term dry drunk is used a lot in AA and in recovery generally. Some people find it helpful, other people find it a bit judgmental. Whatever it may mean to people, its real value […]

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12 Step Program

Gods Will or My Will?

Many people in recovery struggle with the idea of God at all, and find it even more difficult to approach or deal with the issue of what is God’s will for them as a person. […]

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12 Step Program

When Alcohol Stops Working ………..

One of the benefits of going to meetings while getting sober is that people hear stories that help them understand their own alcoholism, even if they don’t fully understand it at the time. One of […]

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12 Step Program

Spirituality and Religion in Recovery

There is much talk in Alcoholics Anonymous about spirituality and religion, and the mix between the two. There is a fairly simple reason for this. Many people who look to get sober have had bad […]

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12 Step Program

What is Emotional Sobriety?

Emotional sobriety is a phrase that was used by Bill Wilson in a Grapevine article, entitled The Next Frontier: Emotional Sobriety, published in 1958, some 20-plus years after he got sober. Originally a letter to […]

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12 Step Program

12 Step Programs

This can be a slightly confusing term for some people. It originates from the organisation Alcoholics Anonymous, which developed a recovery program based around 12 specific steps, which are really statements of experience of what […]

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12 Step Program

Rehabs and Treatment Centers

Many people who get sober do so in a rehab or treatment center. Many people are familiar with the idea of a rehab, but perhaps less clear about what happens there. Most rehabs are residential, […]

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12 Step Program

What is an Inner Voice?

When people talk about an inner voice in the context of spirituality, they are normally referring to an inner intuitive sense of direction in their life. This sense of there being an inner world, and […]

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12 Step Program

Acceptance and Surrender

It has become almost something of a cliche in society nowadays to use the adage that you cannot cope with a problem unless you first admit it. Not that this is a new or novel […]

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12 Step Program

The Downside of Gratitude

Quite often in an AA meeting or similar, you will hear someone announce themselves as my name is so-and-so and I’m a grateful alcoholic/ addict, or I’m a grateful recovering alcoholic/addict. Equally, you are quite […]

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12 Step Program

The Myth of Tough Love

Tough love is one of those expressions that has crept into the vocabulary of mental health and 12-step recovery in recent years. It sort of implies that an action or directive is being given or […]

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12 Step Program

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 […]

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12 Step Program

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 […]

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12 Step Program

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 […]

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12 Step Program

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, […]