About The Book
The Big Book uses the word ‘recovered’ at least 14 time in the first 164 pages.* After the title Alcoholics Anonymous on the title page it says:
The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism
I added the bold typeface, but the italics are original.
The Preface to the First Edition uses the word recovered four times, saying among other things:
To show other alcoholics precisely how we recovered is the main purpose of this book. (BB p. xiii)
In Chapter 3, There Is A Solution the book says:
Doubtless you are curious to discover how and why, in the face of expert opinion to the contrary, we have recovered from a hopeless condition of mind and body. (BB p. 20)
Yet wander into any 12 Step recovery meeting and you’re likely to hear someone say something like “I’m just a sick, recovering (name the addiction) and I know I’ll always be powerless.”
12 Step programs work!
Look, I know that for most people a 12 Step program is the absolute best way to let go of an addiction to a substance or a behavior and return to a life that, as the book promises, happy, joyous and free. (BB p. 133)
I’m also convinced that the Program is designed to show each one of us how to become Powerfully Recovered!
Powerfully Recovered! was written to help you accomplish just that.
You need to know these things about the book:
- It is NOT about curing the addiction. I’m in total agreement that abstaining from the substance and/or the behavior is the only solution.
- It is not intended as a replacement or alternative to AA, NA, OA, DA or any of the myriad of 12 Step programs and groups that continue to be such an effective solution for so many.
- Nor is it a method of studying the Big Book and/or other 12 Step literature.
Perhaps most importantly, Powerfully Recovered! is totally supportive of all 12 Step programs. In fact, the book uses the original source material, Alcoholics Anonymous (The Big Book), The 12 Steps and 12 Traditions (12 and 12) and As Bill Sees It: The AA Way of Life to make it’s case.
Two damaging myths
Powerfully Recovered! identifies two damaging myths that have grown up in the fellowship – the meetings and other settings like coffee after, etc. Those myths, perpetual powerlessness and never ending recovery, prevent countless from stepping full into life as the Program promises.
Using the Program as it’s written in the Big Book, the 12 and 12 and drawing on my own experience and the experience of others, Powerfully Recovered! shows you exactly what the myths are, how they developed and what you need to do to let go of them and step into the fullness of life by becoming recovered – powerfully so.
Powerfully Recovered! can be used by any 12 Stepper in any 12 Step program. It will ground you in the original intention of the program.
Reviews
- You’ll find three reviews at BN.com.
- There are 11 reviews at Amazon.
- Fred Ashmore at Mental Help Net seems to like the message but not the writing style.
Love, blessings and abundance,
*Getting an accurate count is easier than it used to be. I downloaded the free version of the Fourth Edition of the Big Book from http://aa.org/lang/en/subpage.cfm?page=359 and used the search feature to count the times recovered is actually used.
Here’s a list of the books I used writing Powerfully Recovered!
