Wed Night AA Riverside Men's Group

Hi, I hope everyone had as great an Easter week as I did!! Just to remind everyone this Wednesday night is a  Speaker meeting  so no reading is required. I spent a couple of days getting to know Nicaragua and it's people and it was very interesting. I saw some beautiful things but I also saw some things that made me really sad. It's so easy to take the little things for granted like being able to read & write and putting food in your belly. I came back with a renewed sense of gratitude for living in Costa Rica and the opportunities ordinary citizens here have to make a living regardless of political or social affiliation. Oh sure, this ain't no Utopia... but neither is anywhere else. We've got our cliques and our issues just like anyone else but when all is said and done... Life in Costa Rica is Good!! Happy 24hrs, David t.

Good evening everyone, Just wanted to send out a quick email and let everyone know that there will be a meeting this wednesday even though it is Semana Santa. We will be reading  My Bottle, My Resentments, and Me p437-445.  I would ask one favor because I am heading out for Nicaragua that very night at 11pm if we could all please arrive punctually so we can close a bit early I'd appreciate it (I know, I'm talking to alcoholics, it's a lost cause.... lol)    Let me know if you can make it please! Best Regards, David t

Good evening everyone, This week we'll be reading  Window of Opportunity p421-436 . This fellow's story is one of those self-admittedly short drinking careers gone awry. Most took far longer, with far more consequences, to realize they had a problem. However, when he talks about his behavior while under the influence, there is no denying his qualifications as an alcoholic. It's a very interesting story and it reminded me of how important it is to  identify  rather than to  compare. When remembering the times where I actively made the effort to  compare  my story and find how I was different, what I was actually doing was trying to shield myself from anything that could challenge my carefully constructed wall of denial. It was a hateful thing inside me causing this conscious separation of self from others  - The Ego.  When I was finally ready to  identify ,  I had given up struggling with the question, I admitted I had a problem and b...

Dear O, I realize I'm writing this email somewhat out of the blue but I didn't get a chance to give any feedback yesterday at the noon speaker meeting during which you said  "I wouldn't go so far as to call myself recovered.... Next thing you know I'd be one of those guys saying I stopped going to meetings and went back out again..."  (or at least, that's what I Heard). I gotta be honest I was taken by surprise by that and felt a somewhat attacked by it. Obviously, you know where I got the idea from, my sponsor, but I wanted a chance to explain why  I  say it. What had happened to me after my relapse was a total implosion of my self-confidence. I had been doing half-measures and getting nowhere. Not only that but on the outside, things seemed to be getting worse; divorce, bankruptcy and family conflict - these were the payments I was making for clearing away parts of the wreckage of my past and I was miserable. Then the thought came to me, what t...

Hello everyone, This week we'll be reading  Acceptance was the Answer p407-420 . This is a story about a doctor's drug & alcohol abuse and he's got some friggin' fantastic one liners in there. Now I don't want to ruin the story for you but just one quick example, he says he  "found it hard to practice good medicine while shooting morphine"  - I would have never of guessed!! lol He also says " I never in my life took a tranquilizer, sedative, or pep pill because I was a pill-head. I always took it because I had the symptom that only that pill would relieve."   It's like Clancy I. said, what we have is a disease of perception. I tend to believe anything that is born of my own mind - see I thought it so it  must  be true! But if I can accept that my disease centers in the mind and not the body, that my perception can be skewed by things like fear, denial and my own self-esteem, then maybe the person I think I am is not the person others...

Hi everyone, My apologies on sending this out late this week, I've been battling a little bit of a cold lately. Anywho, I'd like to thank Dave W. for sharing his excellent story with us last week, nothing helps recovery along like a heavy dose of humor & depravity and Jesus Dave delivered in spades!! Also I'd like to remind everyone of the upcoming AA convention in Manuel Antonio that's taking place from May 6-8th. We're still working on the details of organizing our group to get out there but let me know if your interested and go online to  register now  -  It's FREE!!  (to register anyways, you pay later!!) This week we'll be reading  A Drunk, like You p398-406 . This was the first time for me reading it and I got a lot out of it. Aside from the fact that I always love listening to another  Member of the Tribe  breaking barriers by showing that alcoholism is no respecter of race, religion or creed, proving you  jew *i mean too*  ...