My fellow members of Jackson County A.A. and Josephine County A.A.:
It is with great pleasure that I announce to you all that in the spirit of Tradition One the service committees of both District 7 and District 16 have elected to combine their individual newsletters into one. With one newsletter, both committees can serve the needs of both fellowships. On the Rogue and Keeping it Simple are now One Day at a Time. Please feel free to send us your comments on this new regional newsletter. Tell us what you think by emailing me at [email protected].
So, attached please find the premiere edition of One Day at a Time (Volume 1, Issue 1, May 2021). Thank you for subscribing. Please let others know about this resource. We would love to get in their hands, well maybe not their hands, more like their email inbox.
If you would like to contribute an article, a joke, a drawing, or your share to the Newsletter, please email me @ [email protected]. I would love to hear from you.
In this premiere edition of One Day at a Time, we elaborate on Step Five. In creating this new newsletter, I have had an opportunity to think about Step Five a lot. Step Five truly inspires me to have the courage and deep desire to leave behind the past, to see the pain and hurt my wrongdoings have caused, to walk out of the shadows of my transgressions and flaws and begin to take the lifelong journey into the sunlight of the Spirit. Writing my defects on paper as I did in Step Four and then with integrity admitting them to myself, to my sponsor, and to God as Step Five requires allowed me to come to grips with the cruel reality of my addictive behavior. The realization of my defects was not to punish me or make me feel less than human, but it was necessary for me to come to the threshold of Step Six where I begin to understand that the only answer to my problems is God. Therefore, this progress into God’s love and acceptance, getting “on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe,” and finding my way to “the Fellowship of the Spirit” was inspirational to me.
So, I leave you with these inspirational thoughts to remind us that we are worthy to live a good life, a wonderful life.
As Cornell University Psychologist, Erin Forquer Ph.D. wrote in an article about social justice and multicultural psychology,
The world may be broken, and wildly unfair… But you
can keep fighting to not let it break you, or tarnish the
beauty that is yours, and yours alone.
Also, as the beloved novelist and essayist, who was outspoken about political and moral issues and advocated humanism, Kurt Vonnegut eloquently encouraged us all in his writings,
Be soft. Don’t let the world make you hard.
Don’t let pain make you hate.
Don’t let bitterness steal your sweetness.
Take pride that, even though the rest of the
world may disagree, you still believe it to
be a beautiful place.
My friends, I pray that you grab ahold of this Program. I pray that you hold on with your dear life. Not that I know firsthand what awaits us at “the end of this journey,” but I do know that the journey is a beautiful life. As Bill W. proclaims in the Big Book, “It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous. There you will find release from care, boredom, and worry. Your imagination will be fired. Life will mean something at last. The most satisfactory years of your existence lie ahead. Thus, we find the fellowship, and so will you” (A.A.W.S., 2001, p. 152).
Never lose faith.
With gratitude and blessings,
Sincerely, your friend,
Winslow
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