Often we hear a person say, “Wow, is that a coincidence!” I say it too, actually, but now I mean some thing quite different from what I used to mean. I have quit believing in “coincidences,” in the traditional sense. When I first heard others in 12 step rooms say that there are no coincidences, [...]
I just returned from a four day workshop on “detachment” that I offered at the Dan Anderson Renewal Center at Hazelden Foundation in Center City, MN. What a powerful week end for me, exhausting in a good way. And what an incredibly open, loving group were present for it. You don’t always have a group [...]
I’m not a great meditator, in the traditional sense. When I first got sober I took a course in Transcendental Meditation, as did many of my friends. It had become the rage in the seventies. I paid $75.00 for the training and a mantra that I was assured was spoken by no one other than [...]
For decades I danced around the lives of others, generally as a way of seeking attention and approval. When others failed to acknowledge me or if they criticized me, I was devastated, certain that I was soon to be rejected. What a sorry mess my life was for more than three decades. Alcohol relieved the [...]
What does staying the course mean? I have thought about this a lot because of the recovery path I have remained committed to for the past 35 years. The way I see it, it means continuing with the daily routine that keeps me spiritually grounded even when I want to let it slide for a [...]
Every morning I participate in a phone conference with eight or ten women and we discuss a spiritual passage from a book that we all read together on the call. This morning’s message was the title of this blog and reading it gave me such comfort. I fought the idea of letting God be in [...]
I just returned from a week end in New York City with three very special women I used to work with. Although we had seen each other for dinner many times over the years, we had never made time to travel and spend those long very necessary hours just talking and laughing, about the old [...]
Whew!! I am struggling to learn some thing new. I have never been very high tech. In fact, my first five books were written in long hand and I hired a typist just as I had done for my dissertation in graduate school. At the urging of friends I decided to give the computer a [...]
I referred to the spiritual value inherent in the slogan, Let Go and Let God, in the last blog. I mention it again because it’s so important to free ourselves of stress and any time we try to take the reigns that either belong to some one else or to God, we are going to [...]
I’m not sure who coined the phrase, “it is what it is,” but it fits for so many situations and it’s used by every one. It’s not surprising to hear television commentators use it with as much frequency as the ordinary citizen. One reason it resonates with me is that it implies acceptance and surely, [...]
