Meetings

[caressa]

Meetings

from: "Going to A.A. meetings"

"We have also found that going to meetings is NOT something to be done only when we feel the temptation to drink. We often get more good from the meetings by attending them when we feel fine and haven't so much as thought of drinking. And even a meeting which is not totally, instantly satisfying is better than no meeting at all."

© 1975, Living Sober, page 81

THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Sometimes that meeting needs to be with my sponsor or another recovering person because me alone with me can be bad company.

I have a disease that tells me I am okay and I don't need a meeting. When I am alone with me, I have no one to identify with. This is a program of reflection. When I look into 'my' mirror, what do I see!

When I think my thoughts, who is there to put them in order and check them for perception and denial.

When I am isolated, who is there to share my recovery with. I am back living with me, myself and I.

For me, when I go to a meeting I need three things.

1) A meeting of the minds with other people in recovery.

2) An attitude adjustment to bring me out of self

3) A reality check to bring me out of illusion and ground me in the real world.

This may happen in varying degrees, but when I get honesty, the need is generally there.

[knothead]

Caressa said:

Meetings

from: "Going to A.A. meetings"

"We have also found that going to meetings is NOT something to be done only when we feel the temptation to drink. We often get more good from the meetings by attending them when we feel fine and haven't so much as thought of drinking. And even a meeting which is not totally, instantly satisfying is better than no meeting at all."

© 1975, Living Sober, page 81

THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Sometimes that meeting needs to be with my sponsor or another recovering person because me alone with me can be bad company.

I have a disease that tells me I am okay and I don't need a meeting. When I am alone with me, I have no one to identify with. This is a program of reflection. When I look into 'my' mirror, what do I see!

When I think my thoughts, who is there to put them in order and check them for perception and denial.

When I am isolated, who is there to share my recovery with. I am back living with me, myself and I.

For me, when I go to a meeting I need three things.

1) A meeting of the minds with other people in recovery.

2) An attitude adjustment to bring me out of self

3) A reality check to bring me out of illusion and ground me in the real world.

This may happen in varying degrees, but when I get honesty, the need is generally there.

Thanks, Caressa, so very much. I needed to hear that!!

A former sponser once told me (after I had presented my disgruntlements over a certain meeting/group): "the only bad meeting is the one you didn't attend and/or didn't participate in." After this old fart of a sponser said that, I was defenseless. It isn't what you get out of a meeting that is important; it is what you bring to it.

We "can't keep it unless we give it away."

[caressa]

It isn't what you get out of a meeting that is important; it is what you bring to it.

We "can't keep it unless we give it away."

My ex-sponsor who is celebrating 45 years God willing, told me the same thing. He is only an ex-sponsor because his health has not been good for the past five years. He was more a spiritual advisor than sponsor because I always had a woman sponsor too, yet it is generally his words that come to mind when I am needy.

He sais similiar words, "It isn't what the meeting can do for you, but what you can do for the meeting." I was told I can't keept it if I don't give it away, but it was also expressed very strongly by several long-timers, you have to have it in order to give it away. I try to remember that I need to keep going to meetings for myself and fill me up. I was told I should only give away the overflow, and make sure I keep enough for myself so I am not overdoing and running on empty. Meetings are a good filling up station.

[Tiger]

I can't let this thread go bye without sharing something my sopnsor, Papa Frank (an old-timer from the 60s era of AA) said to close all his comments during the last year of his life.

At 38 years sobriety Papa Frank made the following statement to close his comments - "People who go to meetings, stay sober, People who don't go to meetings tend to get drunk and I still go to meetings because *It's Easier To Stay Sober Than To Get Sober*!"

Based on my experience I realize how true that statement is!

Tiger

[caressa]

How true! When you talk to someone who has relapsed or slipped (I believe there is a difference) and ask them what happened, they always seem to have the same answer. They stopped going to meetings, then they stopped calling their sponsor, then they stopped doing their daily meditation, and ....

In order to relapse, you have to have achieved some of the grace this program offers and stopped doing the do things, to slip means you didn't have any of the tools to work with and were just on a dry drunk and you had nothing to stand between you and the first thought.