Position of Neutrality

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne discusses the abnormal reactions that alcoholics and addicts experience when they use substances. Drawing on Joe McDonald’s often-repeated phrase, “I’m allergic to alcohol—when I get drunk, I break...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne reflects on the devastating impact of chronic alcoholism, where everything worthwhile in life—trust, love, integrity, self-esteem—gradually erodes. The Big Book emphasizes that with the alcoholic i...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne explores the defensive mechanisms alcoholics often use when confronted with the truth about their addiction. The Big Book points out that when an alcoholic’s fallacious reasoning is exposed, they m...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne explores the tragic irony of alcoholics who possess remarkable talents and abilities, yet consistently sabotage their own potential through their addiction. The Big Book describes how many alcoholi...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne reflects on the idea that those who have struggled with addiction have been chosen for a unique purpose—to reach others who may otherwise never find recovery. This sense of purpose drives us to tur...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne delves into the powerful realization that both the mind and body of the alcoholic are abnormal, a concept that is central to understanding the nature of alcoholism. The Big Book confirms what those...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne discusses the critical concept of alcoholism as an allergy of the body, a foundational idea presented in the Big Book. The authors explain that the phenomenon of craving, triggered by alcohol, is u...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne reflects on the repetitive cycle of addiction, where many of us promise ourselves we won’t drink or use again, only to fall back into the same destructive patterns. Whether it’s playing the weekend...

Join us as Denise McDonald recounts a powerful wake-up call in the ‘Step 1 Denise Lived Experience Series’. In this episode, Denise shares the moment her sponsor bluntly told her, “I’m going to have to fire you because you’re wasting my time.” Denise was shocked, angry, and didn’t understand how someone could give up on her so easily. As she walked to her car, furious, she realized that maybe her...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne highlights the significance of medical testimony in the early days of Alcoholics Anonymous, a time when alcoholism and addiction were not yet recognized as medical conditions. He explains that whil...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne discusses the profound truth that most alcoholics, for reasons still unclear, have lost the power of choice when it comes to drinking. He challenges the common belief in choice, suggesting that per...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne dives into the concept of a psychic change and the realization that human aid alone cannot bring about the transformation needed for recovery. He touches on the importance of moving beyond the alib...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne shares a personal story about the moment he realized the depth of his situation when a judge told him he had forfeited the right to live in society. Reflecting on this life-changing moment, Wayne d...

Join us as Denise McDonald reflects on a memorable moment from her early days in recovery in the ‘Step 1 Denise Lived Experience Series’. In this episode, Denise shares her astonishment when a woman she sat next to at her very first AA meeting received a 35-year sobriety chip. Denise couldn’t fathom why anyone would want to stay sober for 35 years, a concept that seemed utterly unbelievable at the...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne dives into the concept of a “psychic change,” a critical element in the process of recovery as described by Dr. Carl Jung and echoed throughout the Big Book. A psychic change is a complete rearrang...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne explores the idea of alcoholism as an illness, a concept introduced by the founders of AA long before it was widely accepted by the medical community. He discusses how alcoholism affects those arou...

oin us as Denise McDonald shares another pivotal moment in her recovery journey in the ‘Step 1 Denise Lived Experience Series’. In this episode, Denise recounts her frustration when a snowstorm caused road closures that prevented her from keeping a meaningful commitment. Angry and confused, she questioned why God would allow this to happen when she was trying so hard. However, what followed was so...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne emphasizes the transformative power of the 12 Steps, revealing that “there is a solution” for even the most hopeless cases. Drawing from the Big Book, Wayne explains that the 12 Steps are more than...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne reflects on the challenging task of truly understanding alcoholics and addicts, especially for those who are new to this way of life. Drawing from his experiences at a substance use facility, Wayne...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne reflects on a pivotal moment in the history of AA, focusing on a well-known doctor’s account of treating Bill W., a man considered hopeless after multiple failed attempts at recovery. “In the cours...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne openly reflects on the desperate actions many take when driven by addiction, like stealing from family just to get another fix. He acknowledges the shared experiences of those in recovery, emphasiz...

Join us as Denise McDonald reflects on a profound spiritual experience in the ‘Step 1 Denise Lived Experience Series’. In this episode, Denise shares how, after a powerful moment of clarity, she saw shooting stars on her way home—signs she interpreted as God’s presence. This experience opened her eyes to the reality that there truly was something greater at work in her life. In the midst of this a...

oin Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne reflects on the profound transformation that occurs in recovery—where individuals who were once unreliable now stand as trustworthy sources of truth. He marvels at the fact that a group of alcoholic...

Join Wayne Giles as he reads and expands on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, offering deeper understanding and practical advice for those on their recovery journey. In this Step 1 AA session, Wayne addresses the immense destruction that alcoholism brings into the lives of others, driven by selfishness and self-centeredness. He reflects on how, in the depths of addiction, the impact on others...

Join us as Denise McDonald shares a pivotal moment in the ‘Step 1 Denise Lived Experience Series’. In this episode, Denise recounts a frustrating interaction with her sponsor, who bluntly pointed out that she wasn’t participating in her recovery journey. Angry and shocked, Denise walked to her car, furious that her sponsor “fired” her. But as she sat in her car, the truth hit her hard—she wasn’t d...