Download or read book The Soul of Sponsorship written by Robert Fitzgerald and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-03-04 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Soul of Sponsorship explores the relationship of Bill Wilson, cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, and his spiritual adviser and friend, Father Ed Dowling. Many might consider that such a remarkable individual as Bill Wilson, who was the primary author of AA literature, would be able to deal with many of life's problems on his own. Reading The Soul of Sponsorship will illuminate and answer the question of how Father Ed, an Irish Catholic Jesuit priest who was not an alcoholic, was able to be of such great help to Bill Wilson. Part of AA's Twelfth Step reminds us "to carry this message to alcoholics," and The Soul of Sponsorship illustrates how sober alcoholics still need the principles of the Twelve Steps brought to them by friends, sponsors, and spiritual advisers. Some of the problems faced by Bill Wilson were: - depression in recovery - dependency issues - whether or not to experiment with LSD - the place of money and power in AA - knowing God's plan and will - learning from mistakes Father Ed taught Bill the importance of "discernment." In Father Ed's Jesuit tradition, discernment was a gift, passed down to him from St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, who described his own struggle with discernment in The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. The Twelve Steps of AA and The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius presuppose that there is a caring God whose will can be known. The act of tuning in to God's action at one's center is discernment. The big question is, how do you know your Higher Power is speaking and revealing Himself through your feelings and desires? For the good of AA and himself, Bill learned to listen to his desires, be aware of his inner dynamics, and tune into the action of God within. Doing this meant learning to recognize and identify his personal movements -- those inner promptings and attractions often called emotions or affections -- which are part of ordinary human experiences. The person who helped Bill grow in discernment was Father Ed, the Jesuit priest with a cane who limped into the New York AA clubhouse one sleet-filled November night in 1940. The two "fellow travelers," Father Ed Dowling and Bill Wilson, gave each other perhaps the greatest gift friends can give: calling on each to know who he is -- before God.
Download or read book Alcoholics Anonymous written by Bill W. and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-09-04 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A 75th anniversary e-book version of the most important and practical self-help book ever written, Alcoholics Anonymous. Here is a special deluxe edition of a book that has changed millions of lives and launched the modern recovery movement: Alcoholics Anonymous. This edition not only reproduces the original 1939 text of Alcoholics Anonymous, but as a special bonus features the complete 1941 Saturday Evening Post article “Alcoholics Anonymous” by journalist Jack Alexander, which, at the time, did as much as the book itself to introduce millions of seekers to AA’s program. Alcoholics Anonymous has touched and transformed myriad lives, and finally appears in a volume that honors its posterity and impact.
Download or read book Carry This Message written by Joe McQ and published by Accent Press. This book was released on 2015-01-01 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.” -STEP 12 of the TWELVE STEPS Sponsorship is a key construct in A. A. and other Twelve Step groups, and the twelfth step is the foundation of the sponsorship dynamic essential to recover – both for the sponsor and the sponsoree. This book addresses the concern of many in the A. A. community that sponsors have lost some skills in working with alcoholics. By offering tools for helping others find recovery and new life through the Twelve Step program, Joe McQ has created a guide for sponsors to use in working with others. By refocusing his readers on the Big Book, the Twelve Steps, and their message, McQ appeals for a return to the roots and essence of the A. A. program. Moreover, he issues a strong call to action, for return to the fullness and the integrity of the miraculous recovery program.
Download or read book My Name Is Bill written by Susan Cheever and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-09-01 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this thoroughly researched and groundbreaking biography of Bill Wilson, cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, acclaimed author Susan Cheever creates a remarkably human portrait of a man whose life and work both influenced and saved the lives of millions of people. Drawn from personal letters and diaries, records in a variety of archives, and hundreds of interviews, this definitive biography is the first fully documented account of Bill Wilson's life story. Alcoholics Anonymous is a worldwide organization that since 1935 has helped people break free from the destructive influence of intoxicating and addictive substances. This great wave of comfort and help that has covered the world had its beginning in one man, born shortly before the start of the twentieth century. Utilizing exhaustive research, Cheever traces Bill Wilson's life beginning with his birth in a small town in Vermont, where, following the breakup of his parents' marriage, he was raised primarily by his grandparents. Handsome and intelligent, with a wit and charm that both women and men responded to, he seemed at the outset to be capable of achieving anything he wanted. Wilson, however, also suffered from deep-seated insecurity, and once he was away from the provincial Vermont town, he found that alcohol helped relieve his self-doubts and brought out the charm and wit that had made him a favorite in school. "Help" eventually turned to dependence, and years after his first beer -- consumed at a Newport, Rhode Island, dinner party -- Bill Wilson finally had to come to terms with the fact that, while he loved the way alcohol made him feel, his life was spiraling out of control. Through a painful process of trial and error, using a blend of experiences, ideas, and medical knowledge gained through several hospitalizations, he was able to stop drinking. A few months later, when he met Dr. Robert Smith of Akron, Ohio, and was able to help him stop drinking also, Alcoholics Anonymous was born. Each man found in the other the support he needed to overcome the hold alcohol had on them. Together they discovered the power they had to help other alcoholics. Success did not come overnight, however, and as Cheever compellingly relates, Wilson had many struggles in a life fraught with controversies, including experiments with LSD and an unconventional fifty-three-year marriage. As one of the most influential and important thinkers of the twentieth century, Bill Wilson changed the way our society deals with addiction, and his ideas in turn have benefited countless individuals and their families. His life was complex, and in Susan Cheever's fascinating biography, he emerges as a man of great passion and courage; it is a story fully told for the first time.
Download or read book Father Ed Dowling written by Glenn F. Chesnut and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2015-07-17 with total page 675 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Father Ed Dowling, S.J., the Jesuit priest who served for twenty years as sponsor and spiritual guide to Bill Wilson, the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. An icy evening in December 1940 saw the first meeting of two extraordinary spiritual leaders. Father Ed said that the graces he received from meeting Bill Wilson were as great as those he had received from his ordination as a priest, and Bill in turn described encountering the Jesuit as being like a second conversion experience, where he could feel the transcendent presence of God filling the entire room with grace. The good priest taught Wilson about St. Ignatius Loyolas Spiritual Exercises, about the eternal battle between good and evil which the Spanish saint described in that book, and explained the Jesuit understanding of the way we can use our deepest emotions to receive guidance from God while serving on that battlefield. The co-founder of the twelve step movement in turn supplied Father Ed with some of the most valuable tools he possessed for carrying out small group therapy on a wide range of different kinds of troubled people. Together the two men discussed Poulains Graces of Interior Prayer and Bills attempts to make spiritual contact with both spooks and saints, and explored the world of LSD experiences and the teachings of the Catholic, Hindu, and Buddhist mystics in Aldous Huxleys Perennial Philosophy. And we will see how Father Ed, with his deep social conscience, helped Bill W. turn his book on the Twelve Traditions into a Bill of Rights for the twelve step movement, and how he laid out his own spiritual vision of Alcoholics Anonymous at the A.A. International in St. Louis in 1955.
Download or read book Decoding Sponsorship written by Maggie Chan Jones and published by . This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Soul of Care written by Arthur Kleinman and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A moving memoir and an extraordinary love story that shows how an expert physician became a family caregiver and learned why care is so central to all our lives and yet is at risk in today's world. When Dr. Arthur Kleinman, an eminent Harvard psychiatrist and social anthropologist, began caring for his wife, Joan, after she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, he found just how far the act of caregiving extended beyond the boundaries of medicine. In The Soul of Care: The Moral Education of a Husband and a Doctor, Kleinman delivers a deeply humane and inspiring story of his life in medicine and his marriage to Joan, and he describes the practical, emotional and moral aspects of caretaking. He also writes about the problems our society faces as medical technology advances and the cost of health care soars but caring for patients no longer seems important. Caregiving is long, hard, unglamorous work--at moments joyous, more often tedious, sometimes agonizing, but it is always rich in meaning. In the face of our current political indifference and the challenge to the health care system, he emphasizes how we must ask uncomfortable questions of ourselves, and of our doctors. To give care, to be "present" for someone who needs us, and to feel and show kindness are deep emotional and moral experiences, enactments of our core values. The practice of caregiving teaches us what is most important in life, and reveals the very heart of what it is to be human.
Download or read book Sobriety and Beyond written by Father John Doe and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-04-29 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Father Ralph Pfau, known originally as Father "John Doe" traces the spiritual roots of Alcoholics Anonymous and explains the fundamental and enduring truths contained in the Twelve Steps. This is a wonderful resource for discovering the spiritual contentment, mental peace and everyday joys to be found in the Twelve Steps.
Download or read book The Soul of an Octopus written by Sy Montgomery and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-07-12 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finalist for the National Book Award for Nonfiction * New York Times Bestseller * A Huffington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of the Year * One of the Best Books of the Month on Goodreads * Library Journal Best Sci-Tech Book of the Year * An American Library Association Notable Book of the Year “Sy Montgomery’s The Soul of an Octopus does for the creature what Helen Macdonald’s H Is for Hawk did for raptors.” —New Statesman, UK “One of the best science books of the year.” —Science Friday, NPR Another New York Times bestseller from the author of The Good Good Pig, this “fascinating…touching…informative…entertaining” (The Daily Beast) book explores the emotional and physical world of the octopus—a surprisingly complex, intelligent, and spirited creature—and the remarkable connections it makes with humans. In pursuit of the wild, solitary, predatory octopus, popular naturalist Sy Montgomery has practiced true immersion journalism. From New England aquarium tanks to the reefs of French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico, she has befriended octopuses with strikingly different personalities—gentle Athena, assertive Octavia, curious Kali, and joyful Karma. Each creature shows her cleverness in myriad ways: escaping enclosures like an orangutan; jetting water to bounce balls; and endlessly tricking companions with multiple “sleights of hand” to get food. Scientists have only recently accepted the intelligence of dogs, birds, and chimpanzees but now are watching octopuses solve problems and are trying to decipher the meaning of the animal’s color-changing techniques. With her “joyful passion for these intelligent and fascinating creatures” (Library Journal Editors’ Spring Pick), Montgomery chronicles the growing appreciation of this mollusk as she tells a unique love story. By turns funny, entertaining, touching, and profound, The Soul of an Octopus reveals what octopuses can teach us about the meeting of two very different minds.
Download or read book Writing the Big Book written by William H. Schaberg and published by Central Recovery Press. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 682 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive history of writing and producing the"Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous, told through extensive access to the group's archives. Alcoholics Anonymous is arguably the most significant self-help book published in the twentieth century. Released in 1939, the “Big Book,” as it’s commonly known, has sold an estimated 37 million copies, been translated into seventy languages, and spawned numerous recovery communities around the world while remaining a vibrant plan for recovery from addiction in all its forms for millions of people. While there are many books about A.A. history, most rely on anecdotal stories told well after the fact by Bill Wilson and other early members—accounts that have proved to be woefully inaccurate at times. Writing the Big Book brings exhaustive research, academic discipline, and informed insight to the subject not seen since Ernest Kurtz’s Not-God, published forty years ago. Focusing primarily on the eighteen months from October 1937, when a book was first proposed, and April 1939 when Alcoholics Anonymous was published, Schaberg’s history is based on eleven years of research into the wealth of 1930s documents currently preserved in several A.A. archives. Woven together into an exciting narrative, these real-time documents tell an almost week-by-week story of how the book was created, providing more than a few unexpected turns and surprising departures from the hallowed stories that have been so widely circulated about early A.A. history. Fast-paced, engaging, and contrary, Writing the Big Book presents a vivid picture of how early A.A. operated and grew and reveals many previously unreported details about the colorful cast of characters who were responsible for making that group so successful.
Download or read book Ebby Thatcher and Bill Wilson The Pre History of Alcoholics Anonymous written by Ebby Thatcher and published by . This book was released on 2020-11-19 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The pre-history of AA told by two of the people who were part of the most important events; Ebby Thatcher, the man who brought the message to Bill W. tells how he was helped to sobriety by Rowland Hazard and other Oxford Group members, how he carried the message to Bill and the early developments of the Alcoholics Anonymous fellowship. AA Co-Founder Bill Wilson talks about the two streams of influence that led to AA. First, Bill tells the story of Rowland Hazard; how having failed to get lasting sobriety with help from Doctor Carl Jung he took Jung's final piece of advice to immerse himself in some sort of spiritual program. How Rowland practicing the principles of the Oxford Group brought the message of sobriety to Ebby Thatcher. Then, during the second part of Bill's talk he tells how Dr. Silkworth came to an understanding of Alcoholism and its treatment and how Dr. Silkworth helped him. First by preparing Bill to receive the message, then by providing him a medical detox and professional assurance, and then giving him the advice that enabled him to carry the message to the other AA Co-Founder Dr. Bob Smith, Transcribed from Historic Sound RecordingsThe text is a direct transcript of the talks which are available at Audible.com/historyofrecovery
Download or read book Emotional Sobriety written by Aa Grapevine and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Volume Two of one of our most popular books. Sober AA members describe the positive transformations sobriety can bring as they practice the principles of the program in all aspects of their lives.
Download or read book Harry Tiebout written by Anonymous and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-02-03 with total page 107 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of writings by Harry Tiebout, one of the first psychiatrists to describe alcoholism as a disease, are seminal documents in the history, treatment, and understanding of alcoholism. One of the first psychiatrists to describe alcoholism as a disease rather than a moral failing or criminal activity, Harry M. Tiebout was also one of the first to wholeheartedly endorse Alcoholics Anonymous as an effective force in the struggle against compulsive drinking. This volume brings together, for the first time, some of Tiebout's most influential writings. Many of these pieces--from explorations of the therapeutic approach to alcoholism to instructive discussions of the act of surrender so crucial to recovery--are seminal documents in the history, treatment, and understanding of alcoholism. Together, they represent the significant contribution of one man to the countless lives shaken by alcoholism and steadied with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous, psychiatric intervention, and the foresight and commitment of doctors like Harry Tiebout.
Download or read book New Light on Alcoholism written by Dick B. and published by Good Book Publishing Company. This book was released on 1999 with total page 678 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dick B. is a writer, historian, Bible student, retired attorney, and active recovered member of A.A. He and his son Ken devoted many years to researching the role, life, writings, and contributions of Rev.Samuel M. Shoemaker to Alcoholics Anonymous. The quest took Dick B. to Shoemaker's churches in Pittsburgh and New York, to the Episcopal Church Archives in Austin, Texas, to Hartford Seminary, to Princeton University, and to the family and friends of this great Episcopal rector and preacher. In all, Dick B. has published 33 books on the history of early A.A.
Download or read book The Twelve Steps and the Sacraments written by Scott Weeman and published by Ave Maria Press. This book was released on 2017-11-10 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of a 2018 Catholic Press Association Award: Sacraments. (Second Place). In the first book to directly integrate the Twelve Steps with the practice of Catholicism, Scott Weeman, founder and director of Catholic in Recovery, pairs his personal story with compassionate straight talk to show Catholics how to bridge the commonly felt gap between the Higher Power of twelve-step programs and the merciful God that he rediscovered in the heart of the sacraments. Weeman entered sobriety from alcohol and drugs on October 10, 2011, and he's made it his full-time ministry to help others who struggle with various types of addiction to find spiritual wholeness through Catholic in Recovery, an organization he founded and directs. In The Twelve Steps and the Sacraments, Weeman candidly tackles the struggle he and other addicts have with getting to know intimately the unnamed Higher Power of recovery. He shares stories of his compulsion to find a personal relationship with God and how his tentative steps back to the Catholic Church opened new doors of healing and brought him surprising joy as he came to know Christ in the sacraments. Catholics in recovery and those moving toward it, as well as the people who love them will recognize Weeman's story and his spiritual struggle to personally encounter God. He tells us how: Baptism helps you admit powerlessness over an unmanageable problem, face your desperate need for God, and choose to believe in and submit to God’s mercy. Reconciliation affirms and strengthens the hard work of examining your life, admitting wrongs, and making amends. The Eucharist provides ongoing sustenance and draws you to the healing power of Christ. The graces of Confirmation strengthen each person to keep moving forward and to share the good news of recovery and new life in Christ. Weeman's words are boldly challenging and brimming with compassion and through them you will discover inspiration, hope, sage advice, and refreshingly practical help.
Download or read book Not God written by Ernest Kurtz and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-03-26 with total page 553 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating account of the discovery and program of Alcoholics Anonymous, Not God contains anecdotes and excerpts from the diaries, correspondence, and occasional memoirs of AA's early figures. The most complete history of A.A. ever written, this book is a fast-moving and authoritative account of the discovery and development of the program and fellowship that we know today as Alcoholics Anonymous.
Download or read book God Save Texas written by Lawrence Wright and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower—and a Texas native—takes us on a journey through the most controversial state in America. • “Beautifully written…. Essential reading [for] anyone who wants to understand how one state changed the trajectory of the country.” —NPR Texas is a red state, but the cities are blue and among the most diverse in the nation. Oil is still king, but Texas now leads California in technology exports. Low taxes and minimal regulation have produced extraordinary growth, but also striking income disparities. Texas looks a lot like the America that Donald Trump wants to create. Bringing together the historical and the contemporary, the political and the personal, Texas native Lawrence Wright gives us a colorful, wide-ranging portrait of a state that not only reflects our country as it is, but as it may become—and shows how the battle for Texas’s soul encompasses us all.
