Many people in early recovery from addiction, alcoholism, gambling and codependency are challenged by philosophical questions such as posed here.

Trust Your Higher Power, But Tie Up Your Camel
There was once a man who was on his way back home from market with his camel and, as he’d had a good day, he decided to stop along the road and offer his thanks to his Higher Power.
He left his camel outside [...]

Tightrope  to the Higher Power
“My sponsor was a living damper on my intolerance. But even more, he told me that it would be all right for me to doubt God, that A.A. was not a religious program and, to belong, I did not have to adhere to any set of beliefs.
“He [...]

Epiphanies: Slowly Building Up Life Skills In Addiction Recovery
Erin has posted a wonderful experience of a spiritual awakening – the epiphany type – an educational spiritual awakening is happening for her. And, epiphanies remove the mask of denial whether it be for alcoholism, addiction or codependency.
Erin said; So I’ve talked, almost a [...]

Please free my thinking of self-will, self-seeking, dishonesty, and wrong motives.
–paraphrased from Alcoholics Anonymous
There is a difference between owning our power to take care of ourselves, as part of God’s will for our life, and self-will. There is a difference between self-care and self-seeking. And our behaviors are not as much subject to criticism [...]

The Higher Power Is Good
“Before A.A., I could not, or would not, admit I was wrong. My pride would not let me. And yet I was ashamed of me. Caught in this conflict, I banished the Higher Power from my life because I felt He asked me to adhere to a behavior pattern [...]

10 Reasons for Low Libido
12-Step MP3 Speaker Tape Links
A Dangerous Mix
A lady friend may be alcoholic or addict
AA and Al-anon Comics
Abstinence - treatment, philosophy, methods
Abusive relationship?
Aggressive Sexual Behaviour of Alcoholic Men
Alcohol and Sexuality
Alcohol related brain damage [...]

The Serenity Prayer of recovery from alcoholism,addiction, codependency, gambling.
God grant me the serenityTo accept the things I cannot change,The courage to change the things I can,And the wisdom to know the difference.–Reinhold Niebuhr
Some things I cannot change:

my age,
who my relatives are,
my eye color,
my height,
my childhood experiences,
my inborn talents, [...]

I wish you a slow recovery. –Saying heard in meetings
 
Newcomer
“I feel as if I should be doing better than this by now.”
Sponsor
“I can identify with your belief that you should be doing better faster. I sometimes feel that about the pace of my own recovery, as if we recovering [...]

 
Lack of Humility as a Barrier in Surrendering to the Spiritual Aspect of Alcoholics Anonymous
< The iron cage of narcissism
Aims. We tested the hypothesis that recovering alcoholic outpatients who lack humility will be particularly reluctant to accept the first three “surrender” steps of Alcoholics Anonymous:

surrendering to powerlessness over alcohol;
surrendering to the [...]