This morning I checked my email to discover that I had received another order for the New Thought 12 Steps Book and Workbook, and it prompted me to come visit my very own web site that I had visited in a while. I realized I needed to update my bio, because much has changed in my world, so I did that. But my commitment to and belief in a lifestyle which incorporates the principles of New Thought and the 12 steps remains intact. That will never change. I still go to meetings. In fact, I am servings as General Service Representative for my home group and I am loving it! And I am even more active ..read more

On this Memorial Day, it is rainy and cloudy and windy outside my home. Most likely snowing at the higher elevations. My cat is vacillating between climbing on me, purring and snuggling, and looking for trouble. He is still very kitten-ish, but beginning to show signs of adulthood with increasing times of purr-in-the-lap snuggles. I am preparing for two upcoming talks and a workshop. And basking in the glow of a great time of fellowship last night. I am now hosting a once a month pot luck in our new home, a practice I used to do when I lived at Tahoe, and last night about 15-20 people showed ..read more

Let’s talk about the phrase “let go and let God,” shall we? Way back when I first entered recovery, this phrase never made sense to me.  Let go of what?  And let God do what?  And what, exactly, does God do and not do?  By then I had learned that God only does for me what I cannot do for myself, and back then, the only thing God did for me was get me sober, because I was incapable.  I wasn’t even willing in the beginning.  Today I know that God doesn’t really do things.  We do them.  What God does is provide the power and willingness and impetus to do t ..read more

In Christianity, a superficial understanding of prayer is that it is a beseeching to an outside entity.  This idea of prayer is so ingrained in our culture that even people who claim not to be Christian, who replace the word God with the word Universe, still beseech to an outside entity.  They say things like, “I’ve asked the Universe to help me with this.”   This superficial understanding of prayer has never worked for me.  I’ve always felt “victimy” praying to an outer entity, and always felt like there was something missing with those prayers.  The reality is that ..read more

When I autograph my books, I always write this before signing my signature: “Welcome to the journey!” Because it is a journey. And there are little journeys within the ginormous journey of recovery. The ginormous journey is that combo pack of what is going on in our outer lives coupled with what is going on in our inner lives. If you have ever studied New Thought, you know that we can control our inner lives, and that what goes in our inner lives can and does have a great say how our outer lives manifest. Which is why I like to say, “if you don’t go within you go without.” When I coach people ..read more

Another year is on the books. If you are anything like me you have certain things you wanted to release in 2018, and certain things you want to embrace for 2019. For quite some time I've wanted, and it has been my intention, to publish a companion workbook to A New Thought Journey through the 12 Steps. People have called and written to tell me they would love a class, they would love a way to go through the book. And personally, to be honest, after the book was published, I had a sense of not being complete with it. As time went on, I felt I could have been more thorough with it. Well, the com ..read more

Today is the day I consider my real birthday. It is not the day I came into existence on this earth in this incarnation; that happened a few days ago. Today is the day I consider that I got a new chance at life, at a successful life that I never knew was possible. I had to unlearn a bunch of stuff, and learn some new stuff, and for that I am very grateful. I’ve officially been sober for half of my life today. 32 years in a 64 year old journey! WAHOO! I’ve been participating in a private group where we’ve been making a gratitude list each day for the month of November, and I want to share part ..read more

Today I want to address that age old question:  what is God’s will for me? It seems to me that for those of us in 12 step programs, doing God’s will seems to look something like this:  “I have no clue what God’s will for me is, but I’m just going to do the next indicated right thing, go to meetings, call my sponsor and work the steps.”  Which is a very good beginning. But I think there is more to it than that. We are told as newcomers to turn our will and life over to the care of God.  Then in the 11th step we are told to pray only for knowledge of It’s will for us and the ..read more