AA

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.

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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.

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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.

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Why can Meditation be Difficult ?

There is a paradox about meditation, in that most types of meditation of themselves are fairly simple to do, but many people find meditation as a practice, or a process, fairly difficult.

Sometimes people put this down to a lack of discipline, or more commonly people simply say that they find meditation so difficult that they cannot do it.

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Willing To Go To Any Lengths……

Anyone familiar with this phrase will recognise it from the early part of chapter five of the book Alcoholics Anonymous, which sets out the 12-step program which is the cornerstone of AA’s recovery process.

As with many things in life, context is crucial.

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