I Am Not The Giant Of My Dreams?
This is a 3- part workshop on The Miracles of Alcoholics Anonymous by Bob D. and Kerry C. It is powerful, amusing, entertaining and very informative. I recommend anyone affected by drug or alcohol addiction, in any way, to listen to these great audios.
Recovery from alcoholism or any mind-altering substance addiction is different for everyone affected. No two people can experience the process of recovery the same way. But to successfully recover, one must pass through all 12 steps of the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 steps program. There is just no two ways about this.
“Here, together, I can at last appear
Clearly to myself,
Not as the giant of my dreams,
Not the dwarf of my fears,
But as a person, part of a whole…” Richard Beauvais.
This was, for me, THE Miracle of Alcoholics Anonymous. My name is Betty and I’m an alcoholic. I’m 49 years old, a single mother of 4, seven years sober this October and I am alive today largely because of this program. The Miracles of Alcoholics Anonymous are real! AA’s 12 Steps saved my life and I am so grateful!
Listening to these workshop audios, I relate with each and every story Bob and Kerry tell. But what I remember most about doing my program in a residential rehab was the sense of community. That, at last, I was with people who were like me, a part of a very large community. A community within which I had a freedom I had never, ever experienced before.
Here, I was free to take a good, long, hard look at myself, at whom and what I was. Where I learned of Alcoholics Anonymous and the 12 Steps program. A place I could focus on myself and internalize what I was learning. Where I could admit my powerlessness over alcohol; That only God could restore me to sanity if I took the decision to turn my will and my life over to Him; To take a moral inventory of myself, as Step Four encourages, and be as brutally honest as possible — to yourself, about yourself; where I could speak to God and to other people like me, people who had been through what I’d been through, people who wouldn’t judge me; Where with God’s help, I could have the defects of my character and shortcomings be removed and amends made to those I had wronged.
Bob D. talks about the difficulty of facing amends. How do you make amends to people you had wronged? I agree, this is the most difficult step in this program. But when you are ready and willing to face them and most importantly, forgive yourself, all will be well. It takes time, but all will be well. You also must be patient as people have to learn to trust you again.
This is also where I learned the tools to continue to monitor myself and avert myself from anything that could take me back to hell; To consciously seek God and His will for me and the strength to carry His will out and finally, to help other alcoholics in the same way that I was helped.
The third audio is a celebration of recovery from alcoholism — amusing anecdotes — which brought about a lot of memories for me, which I would rather not remember. But over the years, I have learned to embrace these “things” as part of me — my life — my past. And then remind myself that “I am not my past!”
Drinking alcohol made me visible — people could ‘see’ me. Without it, I was nothing, a no-body. Alcohol was my best friend. Alcohol was food. Alcohol was everything. Nothing and no-body was above it. I have vague memories of the terrible things that I did under the influence, but they don’t define my life today. I am still a work-in-progress but at least for once, I am heading in the right direction.
It is still a daily struggle. One must take life one day at a time. It is doable and there is hope. If I made it, then anybody can.
Listen to AA Workshop – The Miracles of Alcoholics Anonymous by Bob D. and Kerry C and more self improvement audio programs on Audiojoy — download free on iOS or Android.
Audio Program by: Odomtology | Review by: Betty Germanotta