This night
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 1,622
That's what my friend said too. If you keep going to barber shops, you are sure to get a haircut. Thanks for the advice.
I was there because I liked it and it was nice and warm and friendly and the people were happy and the conversation was good. We enjoy our lives. We insist on that.
I have a choice about drinking and it is completely mine. I now feel safer knowing that freedom.
I could have temporarily staved off the intense desire yesterday by fleeing to a meeting out of fear. Hearing the misery of that particular meeting would have been worse for my recovery I think than what happened to me yesterday.
I feel a lot stronger today
I was there because I liked it and it was nice and warm and friendly and the people were happy and the conversation was good. We enjoy our lives. We insist on that.
I have a choice about drinking and it is completely mine. I now feel safer knowing that freedom.
I could have temporarily staved off the intense desire yesterday by fleeing to a meeting out of fear. Hearing the misery of that particular meeting would have been worse for my recovery I think than what happened to me yesterday.
I feel a lot stronger today
Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Murrieta, Ca
Posts: 2,683
Hearing the misery of that particular meeting would have been worse for my recovery I think than what happened to me yesterday.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 1,622
IMO, the way the meetings have become in some cases are not what the BB intended. I still go to the cheerful and uplifting ones. I love the BB study groups and meetings where there is plenty of chance to be together and swap stories without formal sharing.
I think in some cases, meetings have lost their purpose. Not all the time but in some cases. I see it as the equivalent to church sometimes. Set agendas and stuff. Starting with prayer, then readings, then sharing, then another prayer, then we leave, possibly after a quick cup of tea. The idea of a truely sick person attending, still drinking or shaking and suffering seems quite remote in some of them. Would anyone in those meetings take that person into their home and feed them and seek medical help? I have yet to see it so I can't judge yet but we seem far from the hospitals where the original group would meet to do their work.
I wonder whether there will one day be a global AA intergroup comittee set up to rewrite the BB. We could call it the BB Council. We could have it in Nicea. We could include new suggestions like 90 meetings in 90 days and that we should take it slowly. The clinic style sharing idea could be added too.
I can't find reference to any of it in the original AA documents.
I agree that we are assured that meeting and being with other alcoholics is essential for recovery and the BB mentions that it is vital for our sobriety that we do service. I interpret this to be that we should almost immediately start to help suffering alcoholics. Sitting in groups and talking about our experiences is an essential part of this help but in some cases, the way it is done is not helping suffereing alcoholics at all.
I have approached several people to ask for their help to do the steps. I have met dozens of fellow alcoholics. I have attended nearly two hundered meetings. I have still not had the priviledge of having one of them take the time to do step one with me.
Please, if you are in AA, the newcomer does not need to be told to wait. The faster and more thoroughly we are helped, the less chance there is of relapse.
The way the first group recovered is quite different to the way we are doing it now. The first group could guarantee success if the path was followed thoroughly. That path is suggested clearly in the book. The long term recovery rate in AA the way it is now (meetings, rehab clinic style sharing sessions, waiting etc) is 5%. If steps are taken quickly and thoroughly, recovery rate grows to 75%. The way the original group did it, the chance was 100%
I leave this thread with the following from Bill
Around 1943 or 1944, the Central Office asked the groups to list their membership rules and send them in. After they arrived we set them all down. A little reflection upon these many rules brought us to an astonishing conclusion.
If all of these edicts had been in force everywhere at once it would have been practically impossible for any alcoholic to have ever joined AA. About 90% of our oldest and best members could never have joined!
I think in some cases, meetings have lost their purpose. Not all the time but in some cases. I see it as the equivalent to church sometimes. Set agendas and stuff. Starting with prayer, then readings, then sharing, then another prayer, then we leave, possibly after a quick cup of tea. The idea of a truely sick person attending, still drinking or shaking and suffering seems quite remote in some of them. Would anyone in those meetings take that person into their home and feed them and seek medical help? I have yet to see it so I can't judge yet but we seem far from the hospitals where the original group would meet to do their work.
I wonder whether there will one day be a global AA intergroup comittee set up to rewrite the BB. We could call it the BB Council. We could have it in Nicea. We could include new suggestions like 90 meetings in 90 days and that we should take it slowly. The clinic style sharing idea could be added too.
I can't find reference to any of it in the original AA documents.
I agree that we are assured that meeting and being with other alcoholics is essential for recovery and the BB mentions that it is vital for our sobriety that we do service. I interpret this to be that we should almost immediately start to help suffering alcoholics. Sitting in groups and talking about our experiences is an essential part of this help but in some cases, the way it is done is not helping suffereing alcoholics at all.
I have approached several people to ask for their help to do the steps. I have met dozens of fellow alcoholics. I have attended nearly two hundered meetings. I have still not had the priviledge of having one of them take the time to do step one with me.
Please, if you are in AA, the newcomer does not need to be told to wait. The faster and more thoroughly we are helped, the less chance there is of relapse.
The way the first group recovered is quite different to the way we are doing it now. The first group could guarantee success if the path was followed thoroughly. That path is suggested clearly in the book. The long term recovery rate in AA the way it is now (meetings, rehab clinic style sharing sessions, waiting etc) is 5%. If steps are taken quickly and thoroughly, recovery rate grows to 75%. The way the original group did it, the chance was 100%
I leave this thread with the following from Bill
Around 1943 or 1944, the Central Office asked the groups to list their membership rules and send them in. After they arrived we set them all down. A little reflection upon these many rules brought us to an astonishing conclusion.
If all of these edicts had been in force everywhere at once it would have been practically impossible for any alcoholic to have ever joined AA. About 90% of our oldest and best members could never have joined!
IO Storm
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Southern California
Posts: 18,436
One correction I need to make on that Steph...
One and only one...
"The ONLY requirement for AA membership is the DESIRE to stop drinking".
You do not have to be sober to join...
Just have the desire...
Love,
IO
One and only one...
"The ONLY requirement for AA membership is the DESIRE to stop drinking".
You do not have to be sober to join...
Just have the desire...
Love,
IO
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 1,622
Hi IO. Sorry if I wasn't clear. I am completely clear on the only requirement for membership. The last two paragraphs were written by Bill - one of the AA founders. It's in "As Bill Sees It". I think it shows that things can get a bit skewed when we stray from the original suggestions. Nowhere does is say we should wait to do the steps.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: UK
Posts: 18,299
At my meeting last night I was talking to a guy outside who was saying he thought it was important to start the steps quickly as they are the core of AA, the meetings are important but it is the steps that are supposed to bring about the spiritual awakening talked about in the BB.
Then some other guy said basically the same thing during his share, and backed it up with some quote or other by BillW.
I understand your frustration Steph, it is understandable that you just want to get on with it and stop feeling like youre not moving forward.
My sponsor doesnt seem to want me to start the steps yet, I am going to have a talk with him about that this week!
It is our recovery, I think we should get all the advice we can and then WE choose what to do.
Then some other guy said basically the same thing during his share, and backed it up with some quote or other by BillW.
I understand your frustration Steph, it is understandable that you just want to get on with it and stop feeling like youre not moving forward.
My sponsor doesnt seem to want me to start the steps yet, I am going to have a talk with him about that this week!
It is our recovery, I think we should get all the advice we can and then WE choose what to do.
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