Author: Pavillon

– Michael R., Alumni This is the central fact that I can never loose sight of, never forget. Yet this seems to be the very first thing my Disease wants me to forget. Like most people who live with the challenges of an addictive personality, my memory can be short and my capacity to minimize … Continued

– Michael R., alumni “The obvious eludes us.” ~Anonymous As an active alcoholic and addict, the obvious eluded me continually and repeatedly. To be honest, it still does from time to time. At least now, when I miss something that is right in front of me I’m able to re-chart my erroneous course and intentionally … Continued

Skip W., Alumni As an addict the only thing I trusted was my addiction. I just wanted to stay high, enjoying the moment until I no longer could. Then what? I mean, come on! I didnt want some Higher Power to run my life. But then, I hadn’t done a great job, had I? TRUST GOD: … Continued

– Michael R. Being able to anticipate my own “growing edges,” defects of characters or whatever else I may wish to call them is indeed one of the greatest advantages of having the clearer mind that comes with getting and staying clean and sober. As Bruce—who also happens to be my Grand-sponsor—also likes to say, … Continued

Michael R., Alumni This is one of those sayings that got my attention because it kept coming up repeatedly over the past couple of weeks. I finally got the message that maybe my Higher Power was trying to tell me something: to pay attention to the importance of the idea of community in my Recovery—that … Continued

Michael R., Alumni As is true with most of the quotes which open virtually all of my musings, there is an outer limit to their wisdom no matter how pithy or memorable they may sound at first. After all, if no one ever said anything during our Meetings they would come perilously close to becoming … Continued

Michael R., Alumni We’ve all heard that “we’re as sick as our secrets” and this seems all but certain, yet the entire notion of shame—for whatever reason—doesn’t usually seem to get quite as much attention as a topic of conversation in most of the 12 Step Meetings I attend. Still, when I look at the … Continued

– Michael R., Alumni How many times have we all heard it before? It’s a fatal disease; it’s the first drink (or drug) that gets us in trouble, not the last one, etc., etc. We also continually hear of the importance that we “keep coming back” and this is a big one for those of … Continued

– Bob Hennen, MS, LPC, LCAS In 1950 a French mountaineer named Maurice Herzog led an expedition to summit a mountain named Annapurna. Standing at 26,545 ft., Annapurna is the 10th tallest mountain in the world and was the first mountain over 8000 meters to be summited. This was an enormous feat, and has proven … Continued

Michael R., alumni “I tend to worry too much about what other people think of me, until I’m reminded how few people actually do!” – Anonymous I remember very clearly the first time I was sitting in an AA Meeting and someone said, “what other people think of me is none of my business.” It … Continued