I was sitting in an open discussion at lunch yesterday and it was a good one. It got me thinking about some of the types of meetings we go to on a daily basis, open, closed, discussion, speaker, step, tradition, and a host of others. I guess I just want to know what your favorite type of meeting is and why? I really like the closed discussions, for me it gets down to the deep discussions of what happened to get us here, and how we're doing today. Like many of you, this thing jumps up at me every once in a while and plays some games with my head. I really like the closed discussions with the old timers, but haven't found that many old timers here yet but i'll find them lol..
What kind of meeting do you prefer?
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"Never make someone a priority who makes you an option"
I like Womens meetings. but i have only been to a few. we don't have one yet in my area. since finding the rooms of AA my HP blessed me with this program that will grow my spiritual life and He gives me purpose and willingness to work the steps. If i go to any AA meeting with an open mind, ignoring distractions, i get a blessing. For me, all AA meetings are like 'spa days' i take in strength and peace and love and rest and celebrate sobriety and growth. with renewed strength i can tackle life on lifes terms. daily life problems are not good or bad, they just "are" and He will will help me get through it one day at a time. thank you for letting me share. (just another AA chatterbox, i guess) jj/sheila
I really like Big Book Meetings. It is nice to focus on the basics with a group of people that offer different insight than I may have on certain topics covered in the BB. It rarely fails to spur interesting discussion and many opinions are shared. I love how jj compares meetings to spa days. I too feel like I am just soaking all this goodness in when I am there and have never been sorry that I went to a meeting. :)
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I think there's an invisible principle of living...if we believe we're guided through every step of our lives, we are. Its a lovely sight, watching it work.
Its big book meetings for me. The one that i attend is my home group these are the people who showed me it was ok to be me. And even after some time there is always something new to read there. Wagon
My Fav is "As Bill sees it" meeting. Pick a topic like anger, look in the index under anger, write down the pages indicated a piece of paper and pass the book around till all are read. There is usually 30 minutes left for a discussion.
I haven't been to one of those in a while dean, you're right, they are awesome.. I went to a good speakers mtg today, the cat had 10 yrs and drank because he thought he had it. This damn disease is sneaky as hell, watch out folks.
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"Never make someone a priority who makes you an option"
Where I got sober in NE Ohio, there was a lot of "lead" or speaker meetings, and closed discussion meetings. Been in GA for 11 years and most of the meetings are open discussion and don't have the intimacy and deep discussion as you mentioned.
I miss the old hardcore tough love, in-your-face meetings from the Cleveland inner city steel mill areas. I used to leave there so pumped up and I still listen to tapes of some of the speakers from the area.
We have a couple of Sober living college houses close to my Weds discussion Homegroup and we have a lot of them plugged in and active members, it's great to hear them share and watch them grow in the fellowship.
I've come to the conclusion that my favorite kind of meeting is anything on a Saturday night. People seem to be more relaxed and upbeat, and after all these years I still get a thrill out of being sober with other sober people on Sat night.
Peace,
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Rob
"There ain't no Coupe DeVille hiding in the bottom of a Cracker Jack Box."
The easy answer, since I need to remain teachable, and give what I can, is all of 'em.
That said, I best like any study-discussion based on original AA literature. For me, it is all about balance. Over the years I Have discovered that going to too many speaker meetings in ratio to step study or BB study meetings is actually not good for me, in terms of maximizing the protective factors for relapse prevention---especially re: not setting myself up for the eventual boredom that sneaks in after an overdose of the "I-I-I, me-me-me" stories of speakers who are kinda stuck in the "drunk-a-log" phase of recovery, vs. some sharing of their current state of restoration and living sober and serene. If I am getting too much of that, but not enough of "how it works", I tend to become out of balance (like when resentment rises and gratitude decreases), which I cannot afford to do. So I have to be sure I stay in balance by getting to an assortment of meetings, to the extent available in the area, and using online sites and reading AA literature etc. etc.
Wagon