Practice These PrinciplesPractice These Principles
RAW Recovery Podcast
Dion talks openly about practising recovery principles like honesty, love, justice and humility in everyday life beyond the meeting room. The conversation touches on depression, boundaries, service, and how accurate understanding of the Twelve Step principles can change real-world decisions.
42:56•9 Sept 2026
Practice These Principles: Taking Recovery Off the Page and Into Real Life
Episode Overview
- Recovery principles matter most when they are applied in everyday situations, not just discussed in meetings.
- Knowing the correct principle behind each step (such as justice for Step Nine and perseverance for Step Ten) helps keep amends and maintenance on track.
- Helping others and offering love, even through difficult truths, can lighten depression and bring purpose to tough days.
- Humility includes doing the right thing when nobody is watching and avoiding public bragging about acts of service.
- Healthy boundaries and occasionally saying no are part of principled living, preventing burnout and resentment in recovery work.
“A principle does not become a part of my life because I can define it; it becomes a part of my life because I use it.”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? In this RAW Recovery Podcast episode, Dion talks candidly about how recovery principles only matter if they show up in everyday life — in cars, workplaces, family rows, and even online arguments. You’ll hear him move from a tearful, low morning to practical, grounded conversation about honesty, justice, love, and humility, all framed by his lived experience.
Dion explains that the Twelve Steps aren’t just something to tick off or recite in meetings; they’re meant to shape real choices. He walks through the traditional principles behind each step — honesty, hope, faith, courage, integrity, willingness, humility, love, justice, perseverance, spiritual awareness, and service — pointing out where online information gets them wrong and why accuracy matters.
His line, “A principle does not become a part of my life because I can define it; it becomes a part of my life because I use it,” sums up the heart of the conversation. The episode is especially relevant if you’ve ever struggled with depression, burnout in service work, or feeling like the "asshole" for insisting on justice in recovery spaces.
Dion talks about being known in Colorado for asking tough questions, reporting HIPAA violations, and pushing for better clinical–spiritual care, including RAP training funded locally so people don’t have to travel. Along the way, he uses humour, references to 80s cartoons, and even sad songs as examples of how he copes and resets. He shares how helping others, supporting his wife through her father’s decline, and showing love through accountability keeps him grounded.
If you’ve been wondering how to bring recovery off the page and into messy, everyday life, this conversation might get you thinking about which principles you’re actually living and which ones need a bit more practice. Which principle could make the biggest difference in your day today?
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