These Twenty-five words are the bedrock of the worldwide Alcoholics Anonymous movement, a movement that has saved and improved millions of lives. When Barb Rogers first heard this prayer a quarter of a century ago, she could scarcely credit it and hadn't the ears to believe it. It all begins with "meee, meee, meee," she writes. As in, Why is God doing all these things to meee? Why doesn't God understand that I know what's best for mee and do what I ask him to? Why are other people doing all these things to mee? Well as it turns out, it's not all about "mee." Rogers tells her story and invites readers to take a tough, loving look at their own. There are some things we should accept, period. We shouldn't take them personally. We shouldn't whine or scream or go off on a tear. Then there are some things we can change, and we should probably take a look at those as well. And the real trick, the one that comes from years of saying the prayer and letting its healing principles sink in, is knowing the difference. Barb Rogers' own story starts in the depths of alcoholism, with deceased children, broken marriages, lost jobs. Sure there were reasons, but reasons didn't change anything: the Serenity Prayer did....

Inspired by the 12-step saying, “Life is simple, it's people who are complicated,” Barb Rogers points out in Keep It Simple and Sane that it s pretty easy to tell ourselves lie upon lie as we explain away bad behavior associated with drugs, alcohol, food, sex, work...whatever, in an attempt to feel better about our complicated lies. And of course, we can't do anything to simplify our lives because we're too busy keeping up with our complicated lives, so we drink, smoke, or shoot, to seek release in inappropriate ways to relieve the complications. But we never do.

Through the telling of her own story and those of fellow travelers, Rogers encourages readers to wait, stop, and hold the phone! Start with Mentally Simple (the opposite of Stinking Thinking) and just do it. Start small. “Grab a mental flashlight” and follow her lead to discover what you were thinking and how you might think differently.

Offering 24 simple ideas in four sections (mind, emotions, spirituality, physicality), along with strategies and exercises to introduce them into your daily life, this book is for people on the simple path to wellness, for people who simply want to take charge to change the things they can change, accept the things they cannot change, and learn to know the difference without an operatic, addictive song and dance....