with all the different types of meetings out there (step, literature, speaker, general topic open meeting...I've even hiked up a mountain for one out here in the Puget Sound)...
what's your favorite type of meeting? Gimme your two cents...
Well I do a very favorite type of meeting. It has to do with the seating of the meetings.
Back home in the Bay Area, they had about 3 meetings a week, where the chairs were not lined in a row, but rather, the chairs were placed in a big circle, sometimes a really large circle.
And for me I always noticed, the difference in the dynamic of how people connected. It was always a feeling of the circle bringing a deeper, more intimate meeting, always left the meeting feeling so much connectedness, way more than the usual feeling of getting up from a meeting where everyone in the room is looking at the back of someone's head. You know when you are speaking directly to the Chairperson, that connection you make, well think it has to do with the fact that you are facing each other, that is, or so it seems to me why there is a stong connect at that point. Face to Face.
And when you put everyone in the room in a full circle, that connection to all is there. I have mentioned how much i like those "circle" meetings to some people here and they say "oh, yeah, I really like those too" but there are no such meetings available here.
So that's imput on subject, it will be very interesting to see what others have to say.
Thanks for the topic. And 12 Step Reading is my favorite, folowed by discussion of that step, applying it to our lives.
i guess for me it the big book study. i really enjoy it. i dont like to read, so it get me into the big book at least once a week. theres my two cents worth. take care wagon
My favorites are the Step meetings. I got tired of the Big Book. I also like topic discussions, like the slogans and stuff. My favorite group was one that did the Step of the month the first week, the Tradition of the month the second week ( like the 1st Step is in January, and the 1st Tradition also,,, and February is 2nd Step and Tradition) , a chapter from the BB the 3rd week, and a topic discussion the 4th week. If there is a 5th week to that month it is chairperson's choice. I got tired of the group that only did the first 3 Steps over and over and over and over,,, and I looked and looked for a group that was working on the 10th to 12th Steps and couldn't find one. I really do think that time could be well spent on comprehensive discussion of those Steps.
that's my preferences based on my needs currently.
amanda
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do your best and God does the rest, a step at a time
Mmm, I think I like it best when we go to meetings for, shoot whats the term? Well, heck, the one where we go to rehab centers and such, meeting the people in treatment. I'm embarrassed now, I worked in a rehab until a few years ago, and all I can think of is DNH. Which means my subconscious is taking the scientific part too far.....sorry, I'm just having a gray moment. Too much Harry Potter. Wren
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Funny, isn't it, how friends and a Power greater than ourselves can neutralize nightmares?
I don't know that I have a favorite type of meeting...I've never left a meeting without something to ponder. We have a step meeting the first of each month, the step for that month. I like speaker meetings...it's great to hear someones story, where they came from, what happened, and what it's like now.Sometimes the chairperson will read a page from "Daily Reflections", "As Bill See's It', "Came to Believe", etc. and we will discuss that. I truly think that if I go to a meeting without expectations God shows up and does the deal.
I like early morning discussion meetings - especially if they are outside. I mentioned an outside meeting at South Boston's Castle Island in a post yesterday. That's a great meeting. I was 3 months sober when it was started and remember going there and being asked to share. There were four of us and two of the guys were drunk.
What struck me was that both of them looked like street people - but one of them had brought the coffee and the other the donuts.
That impressed me. here were two guys obviously down on their luck - but still willing to share whatever they could - coffee, advice, experience, - with people and try to help them get sober.
The two of them encouraged me to speak - I was scared- and I'll never forget their kindness to me. I heard later that one of them - Billy - died in an ATM booth. Nobody knows where Eddie is.
I think of them when I get to go to the meeting. It's nice there. The seagulls glide over the bay that looks across towards UMass...sailboats dot the horizon.. the sun shimmers over the water.. all that good stuff that is totally beyond my descriptive powers. It's a great way to statt a Sunday morning. If you're ever in Boston on a summer Sunday... lemme know. It's an excellent meeting. Mike
Here's mine.