Meeting makers make it.....

I understand that saying, and agree that it is that simple. Another saying that I have always liked is; People who don't go to meetings, never hear what happens to people who don't go to meetings. A little more complicated, but so am I! I am fortunate enough to have gotten sober in Cleveland, where AA actually started. There are over 700 meetings a week in Greater Cleveland. No reason to not be able to get to a whole lot of meetings. When I first got sober, I had no job, no place to go, so I was able to go to around 16 meetings a week, with a lot of time to spare. When I got a job, I cut back to 14 meetings a week. When I got married and reunited with my children, I cut back to 10 meetings a week. I now go to 5 to 7 meetings a week, and everyone around me is Thankful for that. Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later.

Half measures availed us nothing....

When I first read that, I said to my Sponsor, "Man, I'm screwed! I've half done everything in my life." He was a very smart Sponsor. He opened to Dr. Bob's Nightmare, and went to the back of his story and had me read the part that stated, If you put half the energy into staying sober, that you put into drinking, You will stay sober. It was just enough to keep me on target, and continue in this life of miracles. We get what we need. Thank God!! Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later.

Moment of Clarity.....

I see this as a very important part of anyone's recovery. It should be a focus and understood very clearly. After 25 years of drinking and drugging, I woke up on the floor of my Bar, and for the first time ever, I thought, "this can't keep going on like this!" That thought was never before in my mind. I had been coming to AA meetings for 4 years. Happy to have them bail me out of trouble, as my family always had done. Never had followed anyones direction or advice. It just was not me. So this thought could not have been Bob, it had to have come from someone else, but it was in my head. This time I went to a meeting and started doing what I was told to do. That even had me wondering what was going on. It wasn't a God thing, as far as I could tell. If I saw it as a God thing, I would not have heeded to what my head was saying. I was very much an Agnostic. So, it seems as if my God delivered a message to me that I would take hold of, and actually do something about. Certainly a MOMENT OF CLARITY, if there ever was one, in Bob's life. So, what was your's? Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later.

My favorite alkie joke....

A drunk sitting in a bar, asks the bartender to give him a shot of Jim Beam and a side of water. The bartender gives the drunk his order and collects the money. As he brings the change back, the drunk pushes the shot aside, and asks the bartender to give him a shot of Jim Beam. The bartender pours him another shot and the drunk downs that shot and drinks the water chaser. The bartender couldn't help it, he had to ask the drunk, What the heck are you doing? How come you pushed the first shot aside and drank the second one? The drunk said, I've been going to those AA meetings, and they told me to not take that first drink! So tell me one of yours....Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later.

Who shouldn't go to AA?

Over the years, I have been asked to meet with Judges and the sorts in Cleveland, Ohio, and address this question. I came up with a presentation. It goes like this: I understand that the courts were beginning to see AA as a cult, religion, and on and on. So, I would meet with Judges. I would ask them a simple question, Who would you see as someone who would not make it in AA? They would respond with these and more: 1. Someone who heard about AA and didn't like what they heard. 2. Someone who didn't want to have a Sponsor. 3. Someone who was sure they would never want to tell others their story. 4. Someone who had no intention on doing that 5th step. 5. Someone who could not see that they have amends to make. 6. Someone who couldn't see how a morning or evening prayer was something they would do. 7. Someone who just couldn't see them self going to meetings. 8. Someone who didn't like those stories, and for sure would never want to tell one. 9. Someone who says they never hurt anyone else. 10. and the list went on and on. Here's the punch line to this presentation: After I had this all up on a Blackboard, I would stand back and gaze at it. Then I would say, "this list you just told me and I put it up as you said it, describes me when I first came around. I wonder why I stayed?" So, to end this talk I would have them seeing that the whole issue is to make sure the new person IS NOT JUST SENT TO AA! That, like they did in the old days, they were connected up with someone who is already a member and comfortable with this way of life. We all come in with a lot of baggage, and preconceived notions of what AA is or isn't. We need them to be with a seasoned veteran to help them fit in and get into this way of life. That works best! Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later.

Meeting makers make it......

I like that saying. Here's another one I like too: People who don't go to meetings, never hear what happens to people who don't go to meetings. So simple! I went to 16 meetings a week when I first got sober. Finally got a part time job and cut back to 14 meetings. Got a full time job and cut back to 12. During that period of time I had too much free time, even going to all those meetings. I would tell me Mom, that I was safe when I was at a meeting. My Mom would say, not as safe as we are! I put together a group of sober people who I hung with all the time. When I would get the thought that I should cut back on meetings, they would show up at my house and drag me to a meeting. I got married at 8 years and cut back to 9 meetings a week. That worked fine. The last 10 years I still go to 6 meetings a week, and if my wife is mad at me, I go to 7 or 8. Sitting at a meeting is a place where I can be assured of some quality time for myself! I like it that way, and so does my Mom and my Wife. Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later.

FATHER MARTIN PASSED THIS AM....

Father Martin passed away this AM. He will be missed by a whole bunch of us! I will miss our weekly conversations. He was always so uplifting, and just a pleasure to talk with. My prayers are with Mae and her husband. they have cared for Father for many years. Peace be with Father and all who will miss his humor and 12 step knowledge.

If he takes me to it....

He'll take me through it. It took a long time for me to start to believe what my first Sponsor told me. He kept telling me that saying over and over. After some ten years, I started to see some actual results of that saying actually working in my life. Does that mean I actually have full faith in God handling things that I see as not having a good chance of it working out? NO! I sometimes have to talk to my Sponsor or others to get me back on track and holing line with a project I am struggling with. Another thing my sponsor would always tell me, "God will never take you around it, He takes you through it!" Sometimes I would just like to avoid a situation, and go around it. That seems to be a not so happy ending way. It's a struggle to go through it, but much nicer on the other side. Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later.

We have met the enemy-It is US....

That is from a comic strip, POGO, some years ago. It seems to fit us addicts and alcoholics. How many times have you heard the saying, "when you point your finger at someone, there are three pointing back at you. How about Bill W.'s favorite saying "I'm an egomaniac, with an inferiority complex". When I did my fourth step, my Sponsor had to keep reminding me, "it's your inventory not someone Else's!" We spend a lot of time looking at others when the simple truth is, look inside self. When I am working with a new guy, it takes a lot of looking into my own soul to focus on him and keeping him on track. That is why, in the 2nd paragraph, in Working With Others, Bill wrote that you don't want to miss what happens to the new person. When asked about that Bill said, "we missed what happened to us". I am convinced that I AM THE ENEMY, and if I work on that enemy, I will learn to change and live at peace with the enemy. Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later.

God/Good Friends....

My dear friend, Father Martin, asked me some questions, which led me through a birth of some new knowledge. It went like this; When you were drinking and drugging, did you have any true friends who you felt close to and would trust with your life? My answer was NO. When you were drinking and drugging, did you have a relationship with a higher power? My answer was NO. When you first got sober, which came first friends or Higher Power? Friends in recovery. How soon after did you start to grasp an idea of Higher Power? Several Months later, as I worked the steps, with those new friends. His point was: true friendship and your Higher Power are intermarried together. What an eye opener for me, to see that as I became more open to having friends in AA, my relationship with my Higher Power was growing. God/Good Friends, they seem to work together. Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later.

,we tried to carry this message to alcoholics,

That's part of the 12th step. What you see there is what is meant there! It doesn't say, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics who picked up the phone and called the central office and asked us to... Dr. Bob didn't call Bill. Bill went out in search of an alcoholic to work with, because he was about to drink. I have gone to some pretty seedy places in search of alcoholics and addicts I could help, in order to help myself. I work in a Treatment Center and work with people who don't want this way of life. Do I give up on them? Never! I look at it this way, I HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE SOBER TODAY! God freely gave me the right, which I didn't deserve. I now have a right and a demand from God to go out and find others who don't have a right to be sober, and help them. I sometimes get frustrated with those of us who think it is my right to be sober and I don't need to help anyone, if I choose not too. Good Luck!! I have heard people say, "We carry the message, not the mess". I thank God every day, that the people who reached out and pulled me in, did not believe that last statement. They carried the MESS for quite some time. Good thing for me. I made it because they followed directions. Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later.

WHICH VOICE IS TALKING....

I work with new folks everyday. I listen to them very closely. Whenever they talk, I ask myself which voice was that? I see us as having two very distinct voices. A voice in a recovery mode and a voice in the addiction mode. In early recovery, that voice of addiction talks very loud, and the voice of recovery is very soft. I see that as the most important reason for getting a social sober support system. When I talk they can remind me which voice is talking. The voices that directs me will be louder and help me drown out that voice that wants "TO KILL ME, AND GO ON WITHOUT ME". I see folks who sober up, and think, "boy I'm doing great now!", and go on their way alone. That last quote was the voice of addiction! An old lady I once knew had a term I liked. She said, "See How hard I Try". She calls that the SHIT syndrome. Anything the disease voice can tell me and get away with it, is a little closer to satisfying the addictions thirst. Being in a support system is clearly the most important place for the new person to be. This disease fights DIRTY. We need to fight it dirty. Two against one is the best way to fight it. If we try to fight this disease fairly, we have already lost. Lets gang up on this disease and take it out, once and for all. Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later.

Principles before Personalities.....

Do you have HERO's in recovery? I do, and lots of them. I've been told, over the years, about principles before personalities. I tell those people that I pay close attention to that, and I see what it is and what it is not. It is not principles INSTEAD of personalities. Can my hero's fall, sure can. The Lone Ranger fell from time to time. Tonto would pull him through. I've got some personal hero's in Cleveland, some alive and some that have passed. They taught me very valuable lessons. I am grateful for what they showed me, by the way they lived their lives in recovery. If you haven't figured it out by now, Father Martin is one of my hero's. He lives these principles as best he can, and he has showed me some valuable tools, when it comes to interaction with people in and out of this program. When I am faced with a problem, either his or another friend from AA's, situation (similar to the one I face) will surface as a way to address the situation and offer me a solution that will hurt neither me or the other person. Is this hero worshipping? Probably, but I'm OK with that. I will end this with a quote from Father, "when I no longer have hero's, it will probably be my time to leave". That works for me. Time for a cup of coffee, see ya later.