About Women, Girls & Education – Way Off Topic, or Not

Today I’m going to point to another blog I write called WhenGrandmotherSpeaks.com and the article I wrote called Women, Girls and Education. It has little or nothing to do with recovery, but I was saddened by the death of Wangari Maathai and both shocked and encouraged by The Girl Effect. Part of recovery for me is [...]

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How Long Do I Need To Go To Meetings?

“How long do I have to go to meetings” and “Will I have to go to meetings the rest of my life” may be the two most asked questions in 12 Step meetings. Often asked by a newcomer who isn’t quite sure they really have a problem, we with more time are tempted to shake [...]

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Powerfully Recovered Comments Policy

I welcome comments – truly. I also welcome disagreement with me – well, that’s not quite true. It’s more accurate to say I’m willing to listen deeply to what you have to say, even when it reflects a view quite different from mine. I’m really working to not only listen deeply, but to honor what [...]

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How To Tell The Difference Between a 12 Step Program & The Fellowship & Why It’s Important

Almost everyone who comes to Alcoholics Anonymous or other 12 Step program comes first to a meeting. It’s not surprising that the distinction between the fellowship and the program is missed. While it isn’t the first thing a newcomer should learn, the distinction between the two is important. “The Program” actually refers to the basic [...]

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Do You Need More Than One 12 Step Program?

When I came into Alcoholics Anonymous  over 30 years ago the choices were limited. I’d been to Al-Anon before I recognized my own alcoholism. At about 18 months someone suggested Narcotics Anonymous and I went mostly to show him I didn’t need it only to learn that program filled in about 5 percent of what [...]

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Of God, Higher Power, Atheists, & Agnostics Oh My!

One of my closest program friends is an atheist. That drives some 12 Steppers a bit nuts. After all, we talk about God as we understand God, Higher Powers in many forms. The Program says it’s a spiritual program and there is plenty of talk about God in both the Big Book and the 12 and 12. So [...]

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Step 12 – Putting It All Together

Step 12 – Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to (name the addiction) and practice these principles in all our affairs. (*) In most 12 Step Programs when people talk about 12 Stepping they refer to carrying the 12 Step message to others who suffer [...]

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Step 11 – The Contact That’s Always There

Step 11 – Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out. (*) The second of the maintenance Steps, 10, 11, and 12, is our invitation to deepen our connection with our Higher Power whatever [...]

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Step 10 – Staying Honest With Yourself

Step 10 – Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. (*) Steps 10, 11 and 12 are often referred to as the “maintenance steps.” The thinking is by the time you work the first 9 you’re recovery has a solid start. You’ve begun to feel the power of becoming [...]

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Step 9 – It’s Time To Apologize

Step 9 – Made direct amends to such people wherever possible except when to do so would injure them or others. (*) Here the goal is to take real responsibility for our actions by sincerely apologizing to those we’ve hurt – each and every one of them! In fact, we’re to go further, and work to make the [...]

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