Alcoholics Anonymous Videos | DonInLondon

January 19 2013 | AA 12 Steps In Action | Step 1 "Powerless" | Alcoholics Anonymous | "compare and despair…" How am I feeling this morning? Why? And what to do? In this present moment I feel good! Why? Because I am warm, have a roof over my head and it is very cold outside. Groceries been delivered on time, so I have enough to eat. And what to do next? My mobility is severely impaired. This morning, I can write, I can feel, I can think, and I can share, experience, strength and hope…

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Alcoholics Anonymous, DonInLondon, Compare And Despair

Compare and despair! If we make it to fellowship, we will hear the experience, strength and hope of other people who will be sober, nearly sober and sometimes drunk. We all live in the same day, the present day, and what is important in fellowship is to live one day at a time. Compare and despair on a personal level, can be about what we used to be back in the day when life seemed sweet and before it got ugly with addiction. And then we compare ourselves to today and the present, and we are quite different the longer we are away from the drink. So we can compare and despair between the old life and our perceived successes and excesses, and a new life which is extremely difficult in early days and only when we are sufficiently aware that life in the present moment, without drink means we can enjoy reality, without any need to distort reality, do we actually start to believe that this new life one day at a time is possible and preferable…

Comparing and despairing and judging other people! If we compare ourselves with other people, the ones that are like us, the ones who seem to be better off, the ones who are worse off, we can envy just about anyone and everyone. The rich man or woman, can envy the poor man or woman, they perceive it may be easier to find recovery, when everything is lost. And the poor man or woman can envy the rich man or woman, because it's easier to get to recovery in a grand house with a fat bank account. And of course, the road of recovery is not selective, it is not easier or harder for any one person to recover than another person. Addiction and alcoholism is an equal opportunities killer, and the fatal malady will take anyone down, any time and any place. If you compare your situation, rather than look for the similarities, life will take on new meaning, a very negative meaning. When we look at the similarities, we find we are all the same on the road of recovery…

A fellowship with one primary purpose, to help people with a desire to be sober, and hopefully keep sober one day at a time. And a diverse fellowship in faith and belief, believers in God, Buddhists and every religion, believers and nothingness, Agnostics and atheists as well. What you believe in, or what you don't believe in is part of you and you need not change your opinion, unless your opinion changes. Diversity offers the greatest wisdom, from the greatest number to the greatest number. The only place I know its okay to follow your belief and faith without hindrance appears to be in fellowship as people start to understand that no one has a greater hold on truth than another. In the end one way or another, truth, love and wisdom prevail in recovery. And once we are sober, the rest of life keeps happening as it will, and most often, not by our will…

Letting go the addiction, which is a physical and emotional bond, and opening up to a healthy emotional and physical future on a daily basis is going to be a shock to the system. And to get into an addictive state, it requires endurance to the limits of human capacity. And maintaining that endurance in active addiction, will lead to a complete breakdown emotionally and physically, which is why so few people make it to recovery. It is not the fault of the person trying to recover and it is not the fault of professionals trying to help a person recover, and it is not the fault of a fellowship trying to help a person recover from an impossible situation where we cannot stop what is killing us. Step one, the admission of powerlessness over addiction and continued using will leave a person in an unmanageable state, then needs to be accepted one day at a time. Give an addict or alcoholic, a timescale of more than one day, recovery is unbearable and often feels impossible…

Whatever your understanding of a miracle, from a belief in God, to atheist or agnostic, being sober one day at a time, and then continuing one day at a time with the help of other people is quite miraculous. The intervention, is learning the truth, learning all about love and wisdom to keep sober. For many people this has a divine connection for many people, the connection to truth, love and wisdom is dictated by their own personal beliefs and opinions. I have learned that truth, love and wisdom are powers far greater than me and reside in the collective truth, love, and wisdom on tap wherever we can find it. And for me, the fellowship of AA has far greater truth, love, and wisdom than me. Being sober, means I can keep on learning how to live life in the moment of now and cope with reality. And if I cannot cope with reality, I can ask for help from appropriate sources depending on my conundrums today. Answers are never immediate in my experience, the answers come as they will, and not by my will, just about every blinking day...

What was it like for me on my first day of real recovery? It started the day I was born, and survived long enough to realise that my life had got completely out of control. Indeed I did not like reality much, I felt like I had failed to get the point. And to get what I thought I ought to have. Somehow I had a sense of entitlement which just grew and got distorted. Somehow I raised my expectations to fantastic levels and perfection which are completely unachievable. And in the grip of trying to be perfect, or sometimes simply staying under the radar because of fear, I was always conflicted about what I should be doing and ought to be doing. Forever searching for the right situation, with the right girl, the right job and the right things, just made life intolerable and impossible. These days I realise, the right people, the right places and the right things are with us always, and what we need is to understand the truth, the love and the wisdom on offer as reality is today. Which means it will be good, bad and ugly, as life is, and freedom of choice, we have is to follow our senses, intuition and if we are uncertain, consult, relate and ask for help at any given moment. We will fall flat sometimes, forwards or backwards and then pick ourselves up, and sometimes with a helping hand, we will make it through the day and possibly return the serenity in the moment of now, or sooner rather than later!

January 19 2012 | Daily Reflection | A wonderful discussion with my dentist all about neuro-linguistic programming NLP, and how dentistry and NLP help plan patient needs through time. A lively debate followed on matters to do with how the brain works, which was part of my old profession. It was quite exciting, and me sharing about AA and how the 12 steps work… The 12 steps for me a natural progression back to reality and living in the day…

Video For Today:

2011 - 2012

What is spiritual? I realise that we all see spiritual similarly and yet we often miss the spiritual angle to living. Every moment where we can see the truth of now, live in the moment and cope with reality is my best understanding so far. Living in reality: coping with it where feelings fit the experience, thinking and actions working. That is a tall order! As the past and the future can upset our balance at any time…

Today's AA daily, "about round-the-clock faith." From Webster's dictionary, "Faith, firm belief in something for which there is no proof: complete trust…" Back in the day, fear in isolation kept me in the dark and I had no faith in me or anyone, let alone a higher power. Step three in the program helped me to let go and let the world into my life…

I know I cannot define God, nor would I wish to because I cannot understand how nature and providence has made the world. Truly, as many say "God works through people," then letting go knowing everything, means I can ask for help about anything. It works, one day at a time. When I cannot work it out for myself, I now know asking for help is strength and not weakness…

DonInLondon 2005-2011

Three measures: To what extent do we cherish people in our lives? To what extent are we indifferent? To what extent are we superficial? As we treat others, we treat ourselves, as we treat others they too work with how we are. We get as good as we give; every day is different as we learn to live life...

Step One "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol-that our lives had become unmanageable"

"God [it is what we understand to be God or a "Higher Power"] grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot, Courage to Change the things I can and the Wisdom to Know the Difference" God is Truth Love and Wisdom in the moment of now...

AA Daily: ROUND-THE-CLOCK FAITH JANUARY 19 Faith has to work twenty-four hours a day in and through us, or we perish. ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS, p.16

The essence of my spiritually, and my sobriety, rests on a round-the-clock faith in a Higher Power. I need to remember and rely on the God of my understanding as I pursue all of my daily activities. How comforting for me is the concept that God works in and through people. As I pause in my day, do I recall specific concrete examples of God’s presence? Am I amazed and uplifted by the number of times this power is evident? I am overwhelmed with gratitude for my God’s presence in my life of recovery. Without this omnipotent force in my every activity, I would again fall into the depths of my disease - and death.

-/-

Just For Today, and every day cherish always...

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AA Official Online Site: Daily Reflections

http://www.aa.org/lang/en/aareflections.cfm

AA Official Online Site: Big Book And Twelve And Twelve

http://www.aa.org/lang/en/subpage.cfm?page=359

January 2013 | Step One Reading Video Link: