Friends of Bill W.

Indeed, McGowdog. Thanks for the condolence. She was a remarkable woman and I miss her dearly.
Well, hmmm. sounds like a group I was a part of in the San Diego area, the great 858! Great stuff. I am pretty old school as I read the book with other women in the program weekly and 86,87,88 daily ! Gotta go for now, thanks for sharing. Linda P

Oh, but bear in mind; Don't take yourself too seriously! How can you tell when an alcohoic is lying? His lips are moving. =)

Why do they call it AA? Because Liars, Cheats, and Thieves was taken.

Respect the traditions, but thank God for Tradition 4. We have a right to screw up! This calls for total uninoninanonymity. Did I spell that right?

"We lack discipline, so we let God discipline us..." I can relate to that.

My condolences to you on losing your sis. I understand missing a loved one and being sad. They never said grieving was any fun, but essential.

I went to two meetings last week with one social get-together outside of the meeting with two from my home group. We call it Friday lunch. We believe it's almost as important as the meeting itself, when it comes to applying discipline.

Our group is dedicated to discipline by its format alone. We do steps yearly and are asked to chair the next meeting 1 week beforehand where we bring a topic to the meeting with us. Our topic typically reflects where we are in the steps at the time. Since we do all 12 steps in our meeting, we discuss all twelve steps and 12 traditions-long form.

We do steps starting in early September and are expected to be done with all of our ammends by Thanksgiving. We write a 3 column inventory (4th column is hard to explain for us. It's my experience that it's come to light when sharing our 3rd column with the person hearing our inventory and with God) in our group, some stick to the 4 column format, but I find the 4th column a waiste of time and an ego trip. When I try to conclude my 4th column by myself, it does me no good and my ego just sort of "changes seats". When we "come to conclusions" by ourselves, it sort of takes the heat out of the inventory when we discuss this stuff with another alcoholic.

We've got people new to our group now that have reservations about how to do inventory and 5th stepping with people in the group. Some seem to have a "sponsor" in some far away place. That's ok. We can't argue someone in how they do their steps. But we've found what seems to be most effective for us and if there's a better way of doing things and it reconciles with what's in the book, we'll find it.

Our group is not for everyone. We are a closed group to alcoholics. We believe that AA can't be everything to everyone. I'm aware there are other 12-step groups out there. And they are very effective if they follow the instructions laid out in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous.

I go to open meetings as well. But my homegroup is closed AA. I am not an addict; but if I was, I'd treat that separately in its specific category (NA, CA, etc.). I understand this Social Group is probably loose in this regard and maybe should be. I go to treatment center meetings and there, it's all one happy family. A drug is a drug is a drug. I believe that the intention of AA was to keep in mind that two alcoholics sitting down and talking with one another in the purpose of achieving sobriety is where the "magic" begins. Same should be the case with two meth addicts I would assume.

Another thing about my home group is that we don't adhere to the whole sponsorship dynamic. If you are new to the group and new to doing the steps, you are encouraged to get a sponsor and do steps. But after a set of work, then what? In our group, the whole group is sort of your sponsor. God is really your sponsor, right? Your sponsor doesn't have the power. Your sponsor IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU. You are responsible for you, from the get-go. Any given member in the group can be in good shape or hurting. It doesn't matter how many years of sobriety you have. The new guy with 1 or 2 years can be on fire spiritually and the 20 year sober person can be sick. There's no hiding behind your sponsor in our group. Each and everyone is accountable to the group.

We have someone in our group who's about 29 years sober and he comes from a group in Denver that does this format. He has done steps every year for 29 years and this is his life. We understand that there are no gurus in this program, but this guy has got something very special in the spirutual sense. He's got what a sober person would want. And he's very effective with new drunks.

More later, sorry for the rant.

Well, once again I am just gonna write a quick note because, I am still after all these years, somewhat undisciplined. Ha. My soberiety birthday is 12/5/1984. That should be my bb birthday by the way I am today. Sober n crazy... but I am having a good life.
We burried my baby sis 2 yrs ago on mothers day. I don't want the time to go by, I am afraid to leave her, does that make sense to anyone? I miss her and find myself still crying and grieving. I an al anon book titled "opening our hearts, transforming our losses" I started to read it and then put it down. Time. Damn, life is bitter sweet. Grateful to be sober so I have a chance to live it though, if I drank or used I would lose any choice at life.
Could we start a meeting time on here?

Very cool. I will post more later.. I am late for work. Just wanted to touch base and see how things went. great day all! linda p

Thanks. It was a "God Meeting!" Partly because there were two or more alcoholics with a desire to stop drinking- seeking God.

I did what was best; I went with my own current experience. It was more an issue of conception of God. Seeking God or experiencing God is very easy once we experience or consider our 1st Step; left to my own, I WILL drink again.

But even if we GET a 1st Step and seek and experience GOD, we have to revisit this from time to time. And when we do, call it a Spiritual Experience or a Spiritual Awakening, it seems to spice up our 10th 11th and 12th Steps as well.

McGowdog, I am too late for the meeting but I wanted to respond any way... It has been my experience that things always go as they should , despite my planning. LOL I feel your concern and caring regarding a topic and have shared that concern myself a few times. I would love to hear how it went because I am sure it was a "God meeting" regardless ... looking forward to getting to know you all on here.
Peace. Linda

I'm chairing a meeting tonight and I already know it's gonna be a God meeting.

I just want to nail down the topic a bit. We mostly have people in the meeting who would describe themselves as "spiritual" and not "religious" and we've got someone who's really "lost"; not just from a God standpoint, but in their own personal life right now.

Any suggestions as to where I could go with narrowing down a topic? Can I do this here?

Thanks in advance. I doubt any will respond in time for the meeting, but I'd still appreciate your input for future reference.

Hi All, My name is Linda, I am an alcoholic. I joined this but then forgot about it. Nice to be here.

Hey there, anniversaries happen to the lucky, usually remembrances of a very bad day (that infamous moment of clarity is not always kind) I am a member of the Mebane Group, meets tuesday and saturday evenings. I sobered up in GSO, moved here about 8 years ago, I used to live a few houses up from the Unity Club on Glenwood Ave, walked to meetings for several years. I've been C&S since 7 April 86, twarn't always easy but it has certainly been worth the effort.