Overcoming a Dysfunctional Litter
“Take what you like and leave the rest” is a cliche heard often in Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. At first glance, this seems ironic, because AA literature is adamant that a person must commit to the whole program if he wants to get and remain sober. For example, the book “Alcoholics Anonymous” has phrases like “half [...]
“This, too, shall pass.” I can’t say how many times I’ve heard this over the years–or how many times I’ve said it myself to others. Usually, it is said in an effort to help a person gain some perspective on painful circumstances: no matter how bad you feel right now, it won’t last. It isn’t [...]
Principle: Willingness “Progress, not perfection” is another 12 Step cliché that has made it into mainstream culture. A Google search returned almost 380,000 hits, and not even the first page was all sobriety/recovery related. There was an artist’s blog, an AIDS program, and a self-help book with that title that looked to have nothing to [...]
Principle: Self-discipline “One day at a time” is one of the most well known 12-Step slogans of all time. Visit any Alano (a place where 12 Step meetings are held) in the world and you are likely to see it prominently displayed in a bold, decorative script. It was one of the first of many [...]
Principle: Critical thinking “Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?” This is a cliché often heard in AA meetings. Usually, it’s said to get people to think about their attitudes: are you positive or negative? Excited or morose? Involved or avoidant? Self-explanatory, perhaps. But as with most clichés (especially those pertaining [...]
I learned “do the next right thing” in my first home group Alcoholics Anonymous meeting (a home group is the meeting at which you are a regular member, and it’s an important concept for most alcoholics and addicts in early recovery because we typically have such dismal relationships with commitment and accountability). I don’t remember [...]