Talking with a friend on Monday, I mentioned about not feeling it's appropriate for me to share about serenity issues in my life in meetings where people are still just trying not to drink. He said I should look for a group that's mainly people with some long-term sobriety. I told him that's my homegroup, but we study the Big Book (very slowly!), so bringing up such things is not an option. He said, "How about one that's a discussion group?" That's why I need to talk with other alcoholics! Sometimes the obvious completely evades me!
Tonight I chose to go to a group I hadn't been to in a long time, a closed discussion meeting that's close to the house. Guess what... it was mostly long-term sobriety people (There was a brand new person and a 30-day chipper, too.) and the discussion was perfectly what I've been wanting. We talked about, "What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition." The discussion focused on "maintenance," noting that it isn't the level (imagine a scale of spirituality) of our spiritual condition. Rather, it's the maintenance actions we take that grant our daily reprieve. It was a great discussion.
One thing I walked away with: "I cannot base the use of these tools on how I feel." For me, this means that "I don't feel like..." is not an option when it comes to using the tools of this program.
