Lifering and SMART question...
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: "I'm not lost for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost ..."
Posts: 5,273
OTT, so sorry to hear of your mother's health issues. My thoughts are with you. I have missed your postings as there is always something I can take from them. Best to you.
12-Step Recovered Alkie
Join Date: May 2010
Location: West Bloomfield, MI
Posts: 5,797
Originally Posted by PAbookie 
Think of them as AA without all the religious crap,
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.....offensive isn't it? (and no, I don't believe that ^^^ I was just making a point for PA and others to see).
Just because you "view" AA as religious and evidently have issues with it, it doesn't make it "crap." MILLIONS of people owe their life to what you're calling crap.....not to mention the billions of people with strong religious beliefs around the world.
If you don't get it...or understand it....it's not necessarily BS.
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: "I'm not lost for I know where I am. But however, where I am may be lost ..."
Posts: 5,273
Originally Posted by Daytrader
So they follow that crap belief of self-will sobriety?
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.....offensive isn't it?
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.....offensive isn't it?
Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Oxnard (The Nard), CA, USA.
Posts: 13,952
Yep, PAbookie's 'crap' comment was unnecessary here in a recovery forum IMO. I'm all for free speech, but when people are newly recovering their emotions can run all over the place. Some tact is required so as not to send the noob's packing for the hills.
As for me, I don't mind having my 'whatever' recovery program slammed, except here at SR. Do it at an unmoderated forum so I can have at it.
...LOL
As for me, I don't mind having my 'whatever' recovery program slammed, except here at SR. Do it at an unmoderated forum so I can have at it.
...LOL
Member
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: « USA » Recovered with AVRT (Rational Recovery) ___________
Posts: 3,680
Personally, I kind of dig it when people rant and rave against AVRT. For one thing, it is just a paradigm, so it has no feelings — you can't really hurt it. However, when (supposed) paragons of serenity do this sort of thing, it merely exposes how little serenity they actually have. That, I absolutely love. 
Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Berkeley, CA
Posts: 5
I'm sorry to have offended some with my use of the word "crap" to describe my own, personal, view of the religious nature of AA. Of course people are free to have any beliefs they want in LifeRing. Religion is just not part of what we try to do there. Many members make use of both AA and LifeRing. Or they go to SMART meetings. The point is to get sober and to stay that way.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Between Meetings
Posts: 8,997
Originally Posted by PAbookie
I'm sorry to have offended some with my use of the word "crap" to describe my own, personal, view of the religious nature of AA. Of course people are free to have any beliefs they want in LifeRing. Religion is just not part of what we try to do there.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 1,146
PAB since you've been a member for over 10 years I'm curious if people in LR usually keep track of their sobriety dates, and if someone says they're sober for 10 years like yourself if that means without alcohol for 10 years, or is that mostly without hardly any alcohol or dope?
There seemed to be an ongoing discussion in LR last time I looked in about how much drinking/doping a member has to do to consider themselves no longer sober. Seemed like quite a lot of drinking and dope smoking being done by members without any change in their sobriety dates. There's wonderful flexibility in letting people choose a wide range in what the word sober means to them, but I've not seen that work out well for people over time.
Seen much of that?
There seemed to be an ongoing discussion in LR last time I looked in about how much drinking/doping a member has to do to consider themselves no longer sober. Seemed like quite a lot of drinking and dope smoking being done by members without any change in their sobriety dates. There's wonderful flexibility in letting people choose a wide range in what the word sober means to them, but I've not seen that work out well for people over time.
Seen much of that?
Member
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Berkeley, CA
Posts: 5
langkah,
Some people choose not to keep track of sobriety dates, most do -- it's an individual choice. I'm not aware of anyone in LifeRing who would think that a stated period of sobriety would include unmentioned slips or the use of other substances. We do encourage members not to be devastated by relapse -- it is not uncommon for someone to say, for example, "I've been sober for 3 years with two brief slips." Slips and relapses are not unserious, but we don't want people to slink away in shame and guilt when they happen. And the progress they've made up to that time isn't lost. But everything depends on honesty, especially with yourself.
I'm very proud to say I haven't had any alcohol or other problematic substance for the whole ten years, all of it while a member of LifeRing and virtually all of it online. I used -- and use -- an email group -- people giving one another support by exchanging emails that everyone in the group gets to see and respond to if they choose. Instead of a one-hour meeting a week in which you're lucky to get the floor for a few minutes, I was able to actively participate every day.
Some people choose not to keep track of sobriety dates, most do -- it's an individual choice. I'm not aware of anyone in LifeRing who would think that a stated period of sobriety would include unmentioned slips or the use of other substances. We do encourage members not to be devastated by relapse -- it is not uncommon for someone to say, for example, "I've been sober for 3 years with two brief slips." Slips and relapses are not unserious, but we don't want people to slink away in shame and guilt when they happen. And the progress they've made up to that time isn't lost. But everything depends on honesty, especially with yourself.
I'm very proud to say I haven't had any alcohol or other problematic substance for the whole ten years, all of it while a member of LifeRing and virtually all of it online. I used -- and use -- an email group -- people giving one another support by exchanging emails that everyone in the group gets to see and respond to if they choose. Instead of a one-hour meeting a week in which you're lucky to get the floor for a few minutes, I was able to actively participate every day.
Sober since Jan 1, 2012
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Colorado
Posts: 1,583
Originally Posted by PAbookie
...AA without all the religious crap, steps, powerlessness...
Originally Posted by onlythetruth
...the power to recover from addiction comes from the individual, not from a Higher Power or any outside source...
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