The Alcoholics Guide to Alcoholism

Honesty is one the most important things in recovery for me – even if the truth can hurt – which it can often do.

When struggling for an idea of a Higher Power that did not involve a Christian God, I saw a video, in treatment, once by a recovering alcoholic who happened to be a Catholic priest, I think it was Father Ralph Pfau, who effectively said don’t sweat it, just be honest.

That’s it, just be honest?

Yeah, because Honesty, he said,  comes from the Greek  to be in God.

So just be honest, that’s all.

And that is how it started, the journey I most wanted never to take.

This help from outside was and is fundamental and essential for my recovery.

When I rely solely on my own self perception it often takes months to realise how distorted it has become.

Back in AA this self deception rarely happens for long. Why? I see myself in others, in their struggles, in their humanity, in their program, in their delusions, in their defects, I see what I am doing right and what I could be doing more right.

We see ourselves only with the help of others sometimes so thank God for those others!

God wants me to be the real me. The honest me.

“The image that concerns most people is the reflection they see in other people’s minds.”
― Edward de Bono