![]() Now that I am no longer morbidly preoccupied with self, I can reach out to others and contribute to life. Thanks to this program, I am no longer a prisoner locked within the walls of my mind. AA has taught me to “utilize, not analyze.” To live life instead of thinking about it, and to put faith in my Higher Power, not in my own mind.ĪA and my Higher Power have transformed me from a complex person who lived out of her head to a simple person who is trying to live out of her heart. The Twelve Steps have helped me learn how to keep my life, both personal and professional, simple. Introspection is no longer an obsession, and God has replaced psychology as my higher power. One day at a time has relieved me from that terrible bondage of self-analysis. I am happy to say that after two years of sobriety, I am no longer tortured by the wheels spinning in my brain. As a result, I made simple issues complex got lost in the overwhelming complexities I had created and then drank to turn off the unceasing noise in my mind. ![]() Almost immediately, I felt relief and peace of mind.Ī s a doctoral candidate in the field of psychology, I have s p e n t most of my adult life theorizing, conceptualizing, analyzing, and evaluating. At this point, my sponsor suggested that I close all my books (except AA literature) and start to live my way into good thinking. I was trying to figure out life instead of living it. Consequently, I began to withdraw from people, escape into a sea of psychologically oriented textbooks, and slip back into my old ways of thinking. A dependable companion for people in all stages of recovery, Keep It Simples meditations bring you back to the basics of living a Twelve Step program. I became obsessed with the idea that I could think my way into a good living, that I could master life merely by thinking my way through it. Yet after a year of experiencing the healing power of AA, my Higher Power, and sobriety, I returned to work and immediately began to live out of my head again. I was so physically, mentally, and spiritually sick that I gladly complied. For once, I was permitted, even encouraged, to leave my intellectual faculties at the door. When I came to AA, my brain was so soggy that I welcomed the invitation to “bring the body – the mind will follow” with a sigh of relief. I spent my days in morbid self-preoccupation, until the negative thinking and self-centered fear became so unbearable that I drank myself into alcoholic oblivion. ![]() Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international fellowship requiring no membership dues or fees dedicated to helping alcoholics peer to peer in sobriety through its spiritually inclined Twelve Steps program. You name it – I analyzed it! My favorite topics included (1) me, myself and I (2) me and my relationships with other people and (3) me vs. AA Meeting located at Keep it Simple in Carlsbad, California, 92008 with Closed AA Meeting. Grapevine, Inc. – Date unknownīefore I came to AA, I centered my life around intellectual accomplishments and analytic thinking. ![]()
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