Bill and Gord P welcome you to the seventh episode of the 2025 Big Book Study! We continue working on Step 2 out of the Chapter We Agnostics in the Big Book and discuss: opening the door to the belief in a higher power just a little bit; throwing out old ideas that don’t work for a set of new ideas that do work; the bedevilments; and how belief can come from seeing it work for others in the program.

#recovery

Bill and Gord P welcome you to the sixth episode of the 2025 Big Book Study! In this episode, we start with a short share of experience, strength and hope from Katie. Bill and Gord then discuss the chapter We Agnostics from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous including: Step 2, getting rid of old ideas that we not working for us in favour of a set of new ideas that could work for us, and moving from a life centered on self to a life centered on a higher power.

#recovery

Bill welcomes his good friend and Executive Director of Oxford House Earl T to the UDRCAST. Earl discusses: his work in treatment houses; his own experience of alcoholism, homelessness and entering treatment; the importance of connecting with his Indigenous culture in recovery; and how he dedicates his life to service today.

#recovery #sobriety #sober

Bill and Gord P welcome you to the fifth episode of the 2024 Big Book Study! Bill and Gord wrap up discussion on the chapter More About Alcoholism which includes the “mental obsession,” and the lies that our disease tells us in active addiction. We then start into the chapter We Agnostics and discussion of the spiritual solution that can restore us to sanity, including how lack of power was our dilemma, making the concession to change and opening the door to a Higher Power.

#recovery

Bill welcomes his good friend Richard C to the UDRCAST. Richard discusses: growing up in group homes, getting arrested and quitting school in his teens; his addiction and life of crime; and his powerful story of entering Sunrise Healing Lodge and his path to recovery and helping others.

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Bill and Gord P welcome you to the fourth episode of the 2024 Big Book Study! Bill and Gord discuss one of the most important chapters in the Big Book—Chapter 3 titled More About Alcoholism. This chapter touches on all three aspects of the disease concept: the physical allergy, the mental obsession, and the spiritual malady. But this chapter explores in depth the mental obsession (or the “insane idea,” the “curious mental phenomenon”), what types of thoughts enter our minds before we take the first drink, how the disease of alcoholism centers in our minds, and why we need a working spiritual solution in our lives to release us from this obsession.

#recovery

Bill welcomes Debra Gopher to the UDRCast. Debra discusses working with (and the importance of) our Indigenous youth, the re-learning of her Indigenous culture and the importance of finding her true identity, and stories of her own journey which includes education, recovery, and work.

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Bill and Gord P welcome you to the third episode of the 2024 Big Book Study! Bill and Gord discuss from the chapter There Is A Solution, an introduction to Step 2, the “bedevilments,” the necessity of a spiritual solution that heals our mental obsession/mental blank spots and spiritual malady,  and how a spiritual solution begins to accomplish things which we could not do ourselves.

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Bill welcomes his good friend, and past Big Book Study host, Jesse P to the UDRCAST. Jesse and Bill discuss solution based recovery that is rooted in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, the practical application of the 12 Steps, dishonesty vs honesty, and the spiritual malady and the spiritual solution.

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Bill and Gord P welcome you to the second episode of the 2024 Big Book Study! Bill and Gord conclude the discussion of Doctor’s Opinion, the alcoholic cycle (including the spiritual malady, the mental obsession and the physical allergy), the spiritual solution and the complete psychic change, the different types of drinkers. They also discuss Chapter 2 There Is A Solution, “the tremendous fact for us all is that we have discovered a common solution,” and the purpose of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.

#recovery