Three Simple Rules: Uncomplicating Life in Recovery
()
About this ebook
If sobriety were easy, everybody who wanted to be sober would be. And especially for those who are just starting out in Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, or another Twelve Step program, the prospect of trying to change drinking, using, or other harmful behaviors can seem overwhelming. The good news is there are just three key things we need to focus on. Trust God. Clean house. Help others.
Three Simple Rules offers a new take on this valuable slogan and explains how these rules can help anyone find fulfilling recovery. Author Michael Graubart also knows that those six short words are packed with meaning and may not sound so straightforward. Luckily, you don’t have to figure it out on your own. Michael uses wit and wisdom gained in more than twenty years of Twelve Step recovery to explain what worked for him so you can figure out what works you. In Michael’s experience, if you follow the Steps, and focus on the three simple rules, you’ll be changed by the process.
Related to Three Simple Rules
Related ebooks
Understanding the Twelve Steps Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A New Day A New Life: A Guided Journal Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStage II Recovery: Life Beyond Addiction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Step Three: Making a Decision Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeginning Alcoholics Anonymous. You Can Do This Even If You Failed Before. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStep 3: Understand and Complete One Step At A Time in Recovery with Alcoholics Anonymous Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Step 4: Understand and Complete One Step At A Time in Recovery with Alcoholics Anonymous Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Understand and Complete The 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous: Your Guide to All 12 Steps Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Program For You: A Guide To the Big Book's Design for Living Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/512 Steps Unlocked Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Eye Opener Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Step Up: Unpacking Steps 1-3 with Someone Who's Been There Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIf You Work It, It Works!: The Science Behind 12 Step Recovery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsToday I Will Do One Thing: Daily Readings for Awareness and Hope Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpirituality for Recovering Addicts: And for Anyone Seeking Spiritual Growth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHelp for Helpers: Daily Meditations for Counselors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPeoples Anonymous: 12 Steps to Heal Your Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWomen & Recovery: Sex, Sobriety, & Stepping Up: Practical Suggestions for Quality Living in Recovery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSecond Year Sobriety: Getting Comfortable Now That Everything Is Different Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Woman's Spirit: More Meditations for Women Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The 12 Steps Unplugged: A Young Person's Guide to Alcoholics Anonymous Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Essence of Twelve Step Recovery: Take It to Heart Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sober But Stuck: Obstacles Most Often Encountered That Keep Us From Growing In Recovery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daily Affirmations for Spiritual Transformation for those in 12 Step Addiction Recovery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5God Grant Me: More Daily Meditations from the Authors of Keep It Simple Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMorning Light: A Book of Meditations to Begin Your Day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWalk the Talk with Step 12: Staying Sober Through Service Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNow That You're Sober: Week-by-Week Guidance from Your Recovery Coach Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The More We Find in Each Other: Meditations for Couples Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA History of Agnostics in AA Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Addiction For You
Easyway Express: Stop Smoking and Quit E-Cigarettes Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Codependency For Dummies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Language of Letting Go: Daily Meditations on Codependency Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Addiction, Procrastination, and Laziness: A Proactive Guide to the Psychology of Motivation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Porn Trap: The Essential Guide to Overcoming Problems Caused by Pornography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legally Stoned:: 14 Mind-Altering Substances You Can Obtain and Use Without Breaking the Law Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Out of the Shadows: Understanding Sexual Addiction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Allen Carr's Easy Way to Control Alcohol Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Conquering Shame and Codependency: 8 Steps to Freeing the True You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Daily Reflections: A book of reflections by A.A. members for A.A. members Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Alcoholics Anonymous, Fourth Edition: The official "Big Book" from Alcoholic Anonymous Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Illustrated Easy Way to Stop Drinking: Free At Last! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 40 Day Dopamine Fast Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Repeat After Me: A Workbook for Adult Children Overcoming Dysfunctional Family Systems Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Living Sober: Practical methods alcoholics have used for living without drinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete ACOA Sourcebook: Adult Children of Alcoholics at Home, at Work and in Love Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5We Are the Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Drop the Rock: Removing Character Defects - Steps Six and Seven Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Adult Children of Alcoholics: Expanded Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Anatomy of Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming the Body's Fear Response Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Food Addiction: The Body Knows: Revised & Expanded Edition by Kay Sheppard Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMore Language of Letting Go: 366 New Daily Meditations Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Taming Your Outer Child: Overcoming Self-Sabotage and Healing from Abandonment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Zen of Recovery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Three Simple Rules
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Three Simple Rules - Michael Graubart
RULE #1
Clean House
CLEAN HOUSE? Okay, but which house?
We’re not talking so much about the physical home, house, or apartment in which we live. We’ll get to that soon enough.
Right now, we’re talking about another home we have created for ourselves, or perhaps, have neglected for too long. That home
is spiritual, and it is always with us everywhere we go.
Most of us are moving into the future carrying a lot of our past that no longer serves us. Ideas, attitudes, beliefs, prejudices, behaviors, habits, relationships, things. What patterns and behaviors did you cling to when you were drinking and using? How many of those are still a part of your life, your spiritual house, right now?
No matter what time of year it might be as you read this, it’s time for an internal spring cleaning! It’s time to clean house.
When the Big Book authors speak of cleaning house,
they’re talking primarily about inventorying our attitudes, behavioral habits, thinking habits, and actions or inactions. If you aren’t familiar with the Steps, the basic idea is that alcoholism and other addictions are physical, mental, and (you guessed it) spiritual.
The physical part is the compulsion to drink or use. The brain disease. This combines with a mental obsession, in which we think more about our drug of choice—whether it’s alcohol, cocaine, food, sex, spending, or whatever—than anything else. Our addictive substances or behaviors ultimately become more important to us than life itself.
So here comes the spiritual part. The purpose of the Twelve Steps is to create a reawakening of the spirit inside the alcoholic or addict.
In other words, our spirit is still within us, but it has been buried under gallons of alcohol, ounces of cocaine, years of meaningless sex, and other forms of addictive or compulsive behavior. We have replaced our quest for meaning and fulfillment with a quest for more of those unhealthy things that have given us temporary relief or enjoyment.
We need to get that spiritual quest back on track.
The first three Steps are about understanding and accepting the need for spiritual help. We’ll explore exactly what that means and how to do it when we get to rule number three.
Then comes Step Four, which is the place where members of Twelve Step programs figuratively clean house, and that’s what we’ll focus on first.
The Twelve Steps are complicated enough. The language of them isn’t exactly easy reading; it’s hard to interpret them without written guidance from literature and lore from fellow sober alcoholics and addicts. To many, the Steps feel so complicated that they scare people off from working the program and getting