The e-AA Group

I love cycling. I took it up about ten years ago to lose weight and to help me give up cigarettes. My right hip was arthritic, had wheezy lungs, and my weight made running almost impossible. Even walking around the block put my hip into pain for 1.5 days. I was desperate to change my condition. An A...

Hello Andrew45. All slips are preceded by a resentment of some sort. Spiritual indifference is one of many pet resentments. The point is to maintain your desire to stop drinking regardless of other people, places, things, and situations. We need to practice tolerance, forgiveness, allowance, underst...

Hello Tosh.

I am sorry that my use of the word 'repentance' has upset you.
Now I feel restricted in word use for expressing my sobriety on this forum.
I pray that no one else, especially a newcomer, will be moderated so unfairly.

Repent originally means "to turn away, to change". To change our attitudes. We recover. .... If nothing changes, nothing changes. To change, we need to do an inventory, confess our transgressions, make amends - even daily, to continually clean our slate from resentments. We are in recovery from day...

Step 1, for me, is about admitting that, because of alcoholism, my life had become unmanageable. Self-will was no longer reliable. I needed an infallible will, God's-will, to guide me from now on. God's-will for me is to stay sober; that is only one I need to know, the others are by faith. Many grat...

Hello BPG. Early recovery is difficult because our coping strategy, with reality, is to run away from difficulties - like getting drunk or stoned. Recovery requires us to gain new coping strategies with a sober life. One of the best strategies is to ask yourself, "What would a person in recovery do?...

Great to read that you value the meetings and your life. Keep up the good work hjbald.

Over the years I had several sponsors. In short, I outgrew them, sometimes quickly sometimes slowly. In each case, we never became good friends - an issue I had with authority. Then I came across an old-timer whom I liked listening to whenever he shared at his home group. He refused to sponsor me, b...

Hello Tosh. My words in blue. (after all, the 12 step program is about repentance). No it is not! Serious. Repent originally means "to turn away, to change". To change our attitudes. We recover. .... If nothing changes, nothing changes. To change, we need to do an inventory, confess our transgressio...

I find leading by example and inviting the sponsee to join me works better. For example, I like to walk along the beach and chat with my sponsee. I usually take two plastic shopping bag with me to pick up rubbish along the way. My sponsee may ask what I am doing, I say 'penance' (after all, the 12 s...

I believe Dr Bob used to take people through Steps 1 to 3 by asking if they were an alcoholic (Step 1), if they believed in God, (Step 2) and then by some kind of prayer (Step 3), and then they'd get on with a Step 4. I'll dig the source out when I get a chance, but I think we can make such a big d...

The way I see it, alcoholism is a mental disorder. As a result, I cannot totally rely on my thinking. I have this knack to make something irrational feel rational. I need another reference point, other than myself, to tell me the truth. AA is a spiritual program which asks us to rely on a Higher pow...

Hello stilljohnny. I recently chaired a meeting with this as a topic. The sharing was incredible, as members shared their ESH then used the book for support. I shared that Steps 1, 2 and 3 happened concurrently for me. Please share your thoughts on this topic. Oh yeah, my sobriety date is 10/22/93 t...

Hello Silkworth. My words in blue. ... but I was still insistent that they pay a price for disrespecting me. And in an instant my brain shifted gears, I started thinking that these guys are so stupid I honestly feel sorry for them . Heck I just don't feel sorry for them I am going to pray to God tha...