Thank you for reading The Phoenix Spirit - one of the largest and longest publishing addiction and recovery newspapers (and website) in the U.S. While we operate as a for-profit entity, we do accept support from interested readers and organizations. If you'd like to donate, click on the support button and you will be directed| The Phoenix Spirit
“Hope begins in the dark.” Anne Lamott Throughout my life, that little thing called hope has refused to go away. Even in some of my darkest moments, hope sat there, like a little flame in the darkness, quietly glowing and waiting for me to notice it again. Through blinding tears, I’ve seen it shimmer and| The Phoenix Spirit
With over 35 million printed copies sold, the book Alcoholics Anonymous is now available in an updated abridged translation into American Sign Language. Commonly referred to as “The Big Book” this basic text of the worldwide Fellowship that bears its name is now available on DVD to the Deaf community, the Hard-of-Hearing community and the hearing community| The Phoenix Spirit
The Phoenix · Where Is Your Hope? Is your hope these days in a vaccine? A new political or economic vision? More public attention to ending racism or climate warming? Whatever we look to outside of ourselves is always transient. A more reliable basis for hope comes from within our own hearts and minds. What| The Phoenix Spirit
A real friend is the gift of a lifetime. It is special someone who is in your life in a significant way. Good friendship is a sacred two-sided connection with a person we have much in common with yet also respects differences with each other. A real friend knows our worst qualities and challenges us| The Phoenix Spirit
A new year has begun, and I hear deep yearnings for hopefulness in the people I connect with in and out of the recovering communities. This has led me to reflect upon hope and what can help us both develop and maintain hope. Consider these three dimensions: Imaginative, cognitive, and supportive. My reflections upon hope| The Phoenix Spirit
It’s hard to imagine myself drinking or using again. It’s been so long since the last time I got drunk or high that it seems like an alternate life. The old me is a far away, distant memory. No more hangover headaches punishing me for the previous night. That past life of alcohol and drugs| The Phoenix Spirit
It's all very simple. You set a goal for yourself; you determine how you'll meet that goal, and then you follow some tried-and-true strategies that will help you reach it. Will power! That's all you need. Determination. Discipline. Ah, if the road to recovery were only that easy. Anyone reading this article, anyone recovering from| The Phoenix Spirit
The 12 steps are a spiritual program developed through Bill W and others’ experiences of being in the grip of alcoholism.| The Phoenix Spirit
"God speaks to us every day only we don’t know how to listen".— Gandhi Unfortunately, too many of us don’t believe in a Higher Power, let alone actually listen to that voice within ourselves. It’s the guidance that summons us to bring out the better part of ourself and connect to others in ways that| The Phoenix Spirit
Older people can find plenty of reasons to drink alcohol or use other addictive drugs to excess. Pain relief. Isolation and loneliness. Feelings of boredom and uselessness after retirement. Loss after loss after loss. For some, it’s simply a decades-old habit. What’s hard to do is to stop using addictive substances when they are ruining| The Phoenix Spirit