Post by caressa on Jan 22, 2009 14:56:52 GMT -5
What kind of meetings do you have in your area?
At my Al-Anon group, we rotate weekly discussions beginning with topics (a-z in rotation), steps and traditions. Two groups have speaker meetings at the end of the month. Another group shares on the Slogans once a month. I have shared my story three times there. It was something I had to turn over to my Higher Power because I was used to sharing from the viewpoint of the alcoholic.
In NA. they have Basic Text and 12 & 12 meetings. The meeting that I was a member of discussed the weekly readings from Just For Today.
In AA, there are a lot of speaker meetings but there are just as many topic discussion meetings. These topics come from different sources. A topic list, readings from 'Daily Reflections,' readings from 'As Bill Sees It.' Then there are those who split up into different groups within the group. 1) Newcomers, 2) Big Book, 3) Step Discussion, 4) Traditions all at the same time.
Some meetings only discuss the Big Book and others the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions.
CA uses AA literature and the Big Book as their basic text. After all that is where it began. Personally, I like discussisng the Steps. They are the tool that allows me to grow and change in the program. As a friend of mine once said, "I went out and bought a whole lot of self-help books only to find that everything they told me I found in the Big Book when I studied it.
All it takes is two people for a meeting. I have had lots of those and they were some of the best meetings in my exerience of AA. The greatest meeting of all was held at a kitchen table at the home of a friend of a friend who invited me to go to a Native Pow Wow. There were six of us around the table. Most of the people there had many years of recovery. I had one year. It was an enlightening and spiritual awakening and experience for me.
I was asked to share at a Recovery House and speak on "Spirituality in Recovery." I thought it was an in house meeting for the girls because I had been to one with a friend who had gone through treatment there. It ended up being a group session on Spirituality. I had five years sober and was a great experience for me. I use to go into another recovery house and speak on an eight week roster to girls new to recovery in the same treatment house that I went to. I had to share and speak for an hour and then had questions and answers after. There was no format at the beginning other than the Serenity Prayer because the girls were alcoholics and addicts.
I was always told to arrive early and join the meeting before the meeting and stay afterward for the meeting after the meeting. I still do that today in Al-Anon when I am able to be there. Most of the meetings that I have been members of have been 12 Step meetings. I also belonged to a Woman's Group and they had a beginners table and discussed Steps One, Two, and Three in the kitchen and in the mail room was topic. At one time when the numbers were up they also had a Big Book discussion.
Recovery comes in many forms. I took over The Promises meetings from my spiritual advisor who hosted them for many years. Unfortunately, when I went back to school in 2001 the meeting closed.
Very seldom do you hear the principles behind the Steps. They are there for a reason. Words are just words if you don't take them and apply them to your life and live them.
At my Al-Anon group, we rotate weekly discussions beginning with topics (a-z in rotation), steps and traditions. Two groups have speaker meetings at the end of the month. Another group shares on the Slogans once a month. I have shared my story three times there. It was something I had to turn over to my Higher Power because I was used to sharing from the viewpoint of the alcoholic.
In NA. they have Basic Text and 12 & 12 meetings. The meeting that I was a member of discussed the weekly readings from Just For Today.
In AA, there are a lot of speaker meetings but there are just as many topic discussion meetings. These topics come from different sources. A topic list, readings from 'Daily Reflections,' readings from 'As Bill Sees It.' Then there are those who split up into different groups within the group. 1) Newcomers, 2) Big Book, 3) Step Discussion, 4) Traditions all at the same time.
Some meetings only discuss the Big Book and others the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions.
CA uses AA literature and the Big Book as their basic text. After all that is where it began. Personally, I like discussisng the Steps. They are the tool that allows me to grow and change in the program. As a friend of mine once said, "I went out and bought a whole lot of self-help books only to find that everything they told me I found in the Big Book when I studied it.
All it takes is two people for a meeting. I have had lots of those and they were some of the best meetings in my exerience of AA. The greatest meeting of all was held at a kitchen table at the home of a friend of a friend who invited me to go to a Native Pow Wow. There were six of us around the table. Most of the people there had many years of recovery. I had one year. It was an enlightening and spiritual awakening and experience for me.
I was asked to share at a Recovery House and speak on "Spirituality in Recovery." I thought it was an in house meeting for the girls because I had been to one with a friend who had gone through treatment there. It ended up being a group session on Spirituality. I had five years sober and was a great experience for me. I use to go into another recovery house and speak on an eight week roster to girls new to recovery in the same treatment house that I went to. I had to share and speak for an hour and then had questions and answers after. There was no format at the beginning other than the Serenity Prayer because the girls were alcoholics and addicts.
I was always told to arrive early and join the meeting before the meeting and stay afterward for the meeting after the meeting. I still do that today in Al-Anon when I am able to be there. Most of the meetings that I have been members of have been 12 Step meetings. I also belonged to a Woman's Group and they had a beginners table and discussed Steps One, Two, and Three in the kitchen and in the mail room was topic. At one time when the numbers were up they also had a Big Book discussion.
Recovery comes in many forms. I took over The Promises meetings from my spiritual advisor who hosted them for many years. Unfortunately, when I went back to school in 2001 the meeting closed.
Very seldom do you hear the principles behind the Steps. They are there for a reason. Words are just words if you don't take them and apply them to your life and live them.
I am embarrassed to say I have only ever been,
. I will be back looking for Lin and others.