Trauma & Resiliency

Thanks to Charis, an SAL member who created the following post for her Twelve Step Meeting Topic Study.  Thank you for sharing your strength, hope, and experience with us!  We’d love to hear your comments or questions on our discussion board. As a child, did an adult ever swear at you, insult your, or humiliate…

The Myth of Self-Reliance

If you haven’t noticed yet, one of the main themes in 12-Step literature is self-reliance. Becoming aware of our overly self-reliant behaviors and attitudes can feel like flipping our current worldview on its head.  Isn’t self-reliance a good thing?  Isn’t it what we have worked our whole life for? Rock bottom opened my eyes to…

Happy Easter: Celebrating Step 7

Spring is my favorite season.  Everywhere I look, there is new life springing up around me.  Buds on the trees, tulip leaves pushing through dirt, geese soaring northward over my head in perfectly v-shaped droves.  As my recovery friend put it in the weekly email to our recovery group: “Everything that is dormant or dead…

Gratitude in Difficulties

Thank you to Alicia for sharing her strength, hope, and experience in this beautiful post.  Four years ago, I spent an entire July in what felt like total upheaval. I’d had my gall bladder out, my son broke his arm, my husband and I separated, and I ended the month with an ER visit over…