Practice These Principles

Practice These Principles—Daily Meditations on the 12 Step Principles of A.A. offers members in recovery 365 daily meditations on one 12 Step principle for each month. The principles related to each of the 12 Steps can help guide alcoholics and those with other addictions in their daily life. For each day there is a relevant Big Book or general quote on a selected principle for each Step, followed by a spiritual reflection and question for consideration.

Practice These Principles—Daily Meditations on the 12 Step Principles of A.A. is a 365 daily meditation book based on the various principles of the 12 Steps of A.A. The foundation for recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous rests on the power of the Fellowship, the Big Book and the 12 Step program. Each of the twelve steps suggests one or more moral principles, such as Honesty, Hope, Faith, Courage, Truth, Willingness, Humility, Forgiveness, Responsibility, Discipline, Spirituality and Service, to which members may aspire to guide them through their new life. Practice These Principles presents one common step principle for each calendar month, followed by a Big Book or general quotation, a spiritual reflection and a related question for consideration. Alex has published four other books about A.A.: Daily Reprieve—A.A. for Atheists & Agnostics, a daily meditation book on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, Design For Living—Daily Meditations on the 12 Steps of A.A. for Atheists & Agnostics, Here Are The Steps We Took—How to Complete the 12 Steps of A.A. in Eight Sessions. and the lighthearted Gods of Our Misunderstanding In A.A.—Not Just for Atheists & Agnostics.

Alex M. is a retired physician and life-long atheist living in the Bible Belt where he got sober in Alcoholics Anonymous in 2006. Since so many newcomers flee A.A. because of its God-centric focus, Alex believes his responsibility is to share his experience on how recovery can be attained through the A.A. Fellowship, its 12 Step program and the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous whether or not one believes in God. He has published four books about A.A.: Here Are The Steps We Took—How to Complete the 12 Steps of A.A. in Eight Sessions, Gods of Our Misunderstanding In A.A.—Not Just for Atheists & Agnostics, Daily Reprieve—A.A. for Atheists & Agnostics, which is a daily meditation book on the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, and Design For Living—Daily Meditations on the 12 Steps of A.A. for Atheists & Agnostics, which is on A.A.'s 12 Steps. The international A.A. Grapevine magazine has published a dozen of Alex's submissions, including "God on Every Page" in the October 2016 special edition A.A. Grapevine for Atheist & Agnostic Members, and that article is also included in the 2018 Grapevine book One Big Tent. He has also published in his A.A. Area Newsletter and an article called "A Friend of Jim B." was published in the book Do Tell! Stories by Atheists & Agnostics in A.A. by Roger C. In 2010 he started a program which takes A.A. meetings to alcoholics in his community who are unable to attend their regular meetings due to medical conditions or legal restrictions. An article on this outreach service called "24 Hour Delivery" was published in the A.A. Grapevine in February, 2014. His home group was the first atheist-agnostic A.A. group in his region. Service work remains the foundation of his recovery. He is active in A.A. sponsorship and volunteers for various service committees in his local Intergroup. Alex is an Ivy League college English Major and avid reader, loves Pre-Code Hollywood films, relaxes by gardening and woodturning, and lives with two headstrong rescue cats in a farmhouse built in 1842.