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Morning Reflection - Financial Insecurity

This isn't one of my usual posts. Rather I wanted to share, get off my chest, some things I've been going through. 2017 has been a difficult year for me. It started with my biggest client demanding I cut back my hours and drastically reduce my billing hours. My second biggest client had to be honest with me and admit he wasn't in a position to continue using my services at all. So just like that, my financial prospects took a nose dive in the first few months. On top of that, two month's ago my step father became seriously ill. He ended up requiring a colostomy, a serious surgery, which has completely changed their outlook for quality of life over the next few years. Because I still live in their home, I depended a great deal on them for financial security. It sucks knowing that rather than being an asset to them, I am a liability. In sobriety, I've never known much financial freedom. Although I studied architecture & engineering in college, I failed to g...
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Empty on the Inside p512-521

Good evening folks,  What's that old saying? Better late than never? I had some excuses prepared but I figure I better save them for when I might need them!! This week, we'll be reading  Empty on the Inside p512-521.  BTW, someone mentioned to me they weren't finding the stories in the book so please take note that we're on the 4th Edition of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. The 3rd edition has a different set of stories (some are the same but some aren't).  Anyways, I just got done reading this story and I liked it quite a bit. You could say this speaker had one of those Spiritual Awakenings of the "Educational variety". Sometimes I think that phrase might be a euphemism for "they were kind of  slow  to get it" lol Mind you, between the time I first came to AA and that moment when I had what you might call a spiritual awakening of my own, 5 years had gone by.... Now who is the slow one!!??      It's good to rememb...
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Gutter Bravado p501-511

Good evening Folks, This week we will be reading & discussing  Gutter Bravado p501-511.   One of the great joys of my life is hosting this Wednesday night meeting of which I've had the privileged to serve for some time now. So it gives me a great sense of satisfaction whenever I hear someone, especially a new comer, say that there is  something  special about our meeting. To me it means that the same  something-ness  with which I fell in love with is still there.  Last week, Fred brought up an article originally written in the July 1976 issue of "24 Magazine". In the article, the unknown author compares the quality of someone's AA program to Strong/Medium/Week Coffee.  See the article here:  http://www. barefootsworld.net/ aagreshamslaw.html  It's a bit long but well worth the read (kind of like my e-mails!! lol).  Basically it describes how the rapid growth of AA in the early 40's created a situation in which y...
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A Vision of Recovery p494-500

Hello everyone,  This is your weekly reminder of this week's meeting. We will be reading  A Vision of Recovery p494-500   of the book Alcoholic Anonymous. Please find below, after the message, all of the pertinent info about the where & when. A big thanks to last week's speaker Ralph T. who gave us an excellent overview on what it was like, what happened and what it's like now! A few weeks back, I heard a really excellent share by  Scott T. from Coldbrook, NY . This guy went from being tossed in jailed multiple times to being invited to speak at the White House - and he had a (poorly chosen) sponsor from the Quincy Bay Group in Boston named Fred who smoked pot!! - (not THAT Fred!!) Anyways, he said something that really put it's spikes in my mind and made lots of sense to me. What he said is, and i'm paraphrasing here, that being an AA member, even one sober for some years, doesn't make anyone of us into an expert or an authority on the mat...
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AA History -- Gresham's Law & Alcoholics Anonymous

My Sponsor sent me the following link the other day: http://www.barefootsworld.net/ aagreshamslaw.html It was an excellent read!!  I believe myself to have started out with medium-coffee and gradually moved toward strong-coffee. So I know full well that he's right when he says that not applying the full measure of the program, in the best case, only got me abstinence and, in the worst case (as happened to me before), instead of graduating to strong-coffee I could've slipped back into active alcoholism. Thankfully my sponsor likes his coffee BLACK!!! lol I'd be willing to bet that there is a strong correlation in group size and the strength of their "coffee". Larger groups tend to dilute the message a lot in hopes of avoiding controversy. I tried going to a 100+ AA group in Miami (The Coral Group) and couldn't find sobriety there (that's where I had the sponsor who had me call him every single day and NEVER ONCE picked up the phone).  Smal...
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Wed Night AA: Speaker Meeting

Good evening gents,  Just your weekly reminder for this week's Wednesday night AA meeting. This is the last Wednesday of the month which means we will be having a  Speaker Meeting.   Curious side note about the month of May this year, it has both 5 Mondays & 5 Sundays. According to the  not-at-all  dubious website where I read this, this only happens once every 800 years!! That kinda got me thinking about the opportunities we're given in this life. God knows I've squandered my share and sometimes it weighs on me. Great nuggets of wisdom on this topic are easy to find; When God closes a door he opens a window, There is no Yesterday or Tomorrow - There is only Today, Let Go and Let God or Be Dragged.... etc,etc,etc... Those are all true and all good but sometimes the past (and it's wreckage) can seem to follow you around like a dark cloud and it feels like we'll never get out from under it.  When I find myself in that situation, I fi...
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On the Move p486-493

Hello friends,  This week we will be reading  On the Move p486-493  from the book Alcoholic Anonymous.  I just heard an excellent speaker tape last week by a speaker named Scott T. from Coldbrook, NY. If you know how to look up speaker tapes I highly recommend this speaker. One of the highlights of the share was that he read out a poem I'd like to share with you called The Man in the Glass.   The Man in the Glass When you get what you want in your struggle for self And the world makes you king for a day, Just go to the mirror and look at yourself, And see what that man has to say.  For it isn't your father or mother or wife, Whose judgment upon you must pass; The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life Is the one starring back from the glass.  He's the fellow to please, never mind all the rest. For he's with you clear up 'til the end, And you've passed the most dangerous, difficult test If the man in the glass is your friend....
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