Defects of Character

Thought for today: Having taken Step 5, we have shared a lot about ourselves with another member of the DA fellowship.  We have also learned a lot of truth about ourselves.  What next? Once again we turn to our Higher Power for help.  This time, we ask for relief from character defects standing in the way […]

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Why Is Pride A “Defect of Character”?

Thought for today: When a person first attends a DA meeting, they may hear the concept in studying the Twelve Steps that Pride is a defect of character.  How can Pride be a that? A newcomer asks: “How can Pride be bad?  Isn’t it a good thing – pride of country, being proud of my accomplishments, being proud of […]

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When Is Pride a Character Defect?

Thought for today: The word “pride” means “deep satisfaction in our own achievements, or those of others”.  It can separate “us” from “them”, making “us” come out better and “them”, worse off.  In this sense, “put down” pride is destructive, and the extent to which we entertain it, we destroy peace. A member shares: “I used to believe […]

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Ready For Freedom

Thought for today If we go through the Twelve Steps, we will most likely find a spiritual awakening beyond our wildest dreams.  We will know “a new happiness and a new freedom”. This is not to say it will be easy to take the Steps.  Consider this one, which seems to ask an impossible lot […]

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Truth and Solvency

Thought for today: It’s been said that “you’re as sick as your secrets”.   Secrets have a way of taking energy from us, while the truth generally allows us to grow in energy. When secrets are many, we risk tripping over them, like clutter in a room.  We dare not talk about our problems in public.  We hide […]

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“How I Discovered the Answers to All My Problems”

Thought for today: What if there was a way to discover everything that was causing us problems with relationships?  Wouldn’t that be an incredible tool?  Enter Step Four… Step 4: “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.” A personal share: “When I was ready to take Step Four I made the list just […]

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12 Benefits of Decluttering To Help Us “Live Within Our Means” Without Our Means Defining Us

Thought for today: Newcomers to our program find it hard to imagine a life without feelings of deprivation, insatiable binge overspending, or exhausting overwork. But our experience proves it is not only possible, but likely that we will live a life with abundance if we follow simple Steps and Tools. Working the program brings us a life beyond our often-limited […]

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Why We Track Our Numbers – To The Penny!

Thought for today: If we are not tracking our numbers to the penny –  income, expenses, and savings –  it will be hard to get what other members have received from DA.  So we’ll need to first get honest with ourselves. Using Step 4, we can search for greater clarity about why we fight doing our […]

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Where is My Higher Power In This?

Thought for today: When it comes to the disease of compulsive debting, there are no “unique” stories.  The same “debt-a-log” gets told over and over in the rooms of DA; only the names and faces change. In this sense, the disease is boring; it always blinds us to light, leaving us to whither, get angry, lash out or nash in […]

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Shedding The Attitudes That Hold Us Back Using Step 6

Thought for today: Taking a personal inventory isn’t for sissies.  The defects of character we uncover can bring feelings of shame, remorse, fear.  That’s why we took the Fifth Step with another human being who had been through the Steps and who knew what we were trying to carry out. Sharing our inventory with another person in the […]

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