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What if I told you ... would you believe it? How could you? How many times do we hear in the Rooms about lives that are second to none, lives worth celebrating, when, at one time, all was lost? Do we believe them? Have we ever heard the converse? Of course not. Rarely have we seen a person fail ... So why are we so stubborn, why don't we believe? We need to see for ourselves, and we few, we proud few who are lucky enough to stick around until the miracle happens, well, we truly "came to believe."

LUCKY SEVEN. Today marks seven years of continuous, uninterrupted sobriety. On Father’s Day 2015, I wrote a letter to God petitioning Him, begging Him to save me. I needed an angel, in a bad way. My Higher Power didn’t send me one angel, He sent me a program of angels in the earthly form of a group of drunks just trying to stay sober and stay alive called Alcoholics Anonymous. Since getting sober, I have endured death of loved ones, ruin and wreckage in many forms as well as victory and glory. I have tried to treat those imposters all the same. It wasn’t all pink clouds, but I have kept faith that my Higher Power loves me, and if I can just stay sober today and help one drunk do the same, I will earn and live a life worth celebrating. My name is Gregory B. My sobriety date is July 19, 2015. I have a sponsor, who has a sponsor and I sponsor other dudes who are trying to get sober and stay that way. I go to meetings and I’ve worked the Steps. I support other drunks who need a helping hand or just a kind word of encouragement. These are not extravagant promises. They come true if you work for them and if you let them. Luck's got nothing to do with it. Neither do I. Just my Higher Power. I love you and so does my Higher Power.

The Judgment of Paris: Discordia throws the golden apple into the banquet (to which she was not invited), and the rest, as they say is history. Unprecedented carnage, an Odyssey, the fall of Troy, death of Gods and Mortals alike, a stolen bride, and of course, the death of Paris himself. All because of one bad apple. Like the Waylon Jennings song goes, "there's one in every crowd, for cryin' out loud, why was it always turning out to be me?" Why indeed?

Recovery and the Twelve Steps are both living breathing organisms, institutions, theories, and principles, but they are solid and fundamental at the same time. That is the beauty and the mystery of our Program.

We get the conduct we tolerate. This is nowhere more important than the conduct we tolerate in ourselves.

In this episode, we continue the discussion and theme from our last episode regarding Outside Issues, and how they lead to emotional dysregulation and instability, which is the precursor to a relapse for sure.

Due to the chaos in our country and the impact it has on a lot of us staying sober, this episode leaves our current topic and addresses the important concept of “outside issues” and keeping our focus and equipoise when all around us are losing their minds. This is apolitical and ideologically neutral.

Today we continue our exploration of the 1903 treatise the “Homely Virtues,”particularly Chapter I entitled, “Straightness.” While this term may connote many things to many people in today’s parlance, in 1903 the term was used to mean “honest,” “earnest,” and “genuine.” Aren’t these the bedrocks of our recovery?

This episode begins our study of the work The Homely Virtues, focusing on the Prelude or "Introductory," called "Ordinary People," and the intersection with programs of recovery.  I find it fascinating that a book that predates the 12 & 12 by almost fifty years or more could so eloquently and exactly mirror the last paragraphs in Step 12 of that seminal work.  My Disease "wants" me to think I am special, wants me to constantly compare myself to others in an effort to be "extraordinary."  My Higher Power wants me to have profound happiness, found only when I rest easy knowing that I have done my duty, held that small patch of ground in a sensible, responsible, "ordinary" way.

This episode focuses on my journey over the past twelve months, why I stopped podcasting for a bit, and how I stayed sober and strengthened my program of recovery and serenity through the global pandemic.

This is the beginning of Season 3 of the EPP. Show notes:  -- December 9 is an important day for me, for my life, for my Program. Why?  -- While it is true that you may be able to get sober alone, it is a lot harder, and I do not know anyone who has succeeded.  I am not saying it isn't possible, or that there aren't viable programs of recovery other than Alcoholics Anonymous, I just haven't seen or heard of them working.  So too, you can get and stay sober without a Higher Power, but it is a lot harder.  I know atheists and agnostics who have gotten and stayed sober, but I have not met anyone who did so without turning their will and their lives over to something bigger than themselves.  -- The gift of rock bottom.

God’s power to forgive is greater than our power to sin.

“On with the show ...” Motley Crue.  This is the first episode of Season 2, and the first of the Solo Meetings, in which  I am offering as a form of service a meeting-like format so that those who are unable to attend a meeting in person or through another format or platform can get relief and recovery as if they were in a meeting and listening. 

Control-freaks, please apply.

What will other people say? What will other people think?

The Divine Spark is inside us all ...

I once was blind, and now I see ...

“The fundamental tenet of Buddhism is not, ‘Every man for himself.’ I know. I looked it up.” Wanda (A Fish Called Wanda)

Burn, baby burn ...

Continuing to “adult” the shit out of life ...