JUN 28, 21 .. ZOOM MEETINGS AND LIVE, IN-PERSON HYBRID MEETINGS

Zoom A.A. meetings here in the United States were an entirely new concept to me commencing in March of 2020 when the Covid-19 virus caused many meetings to be shut down and the doors closed.

I have since learned that, in the business world, zoom meetings have been ongoing since Zoom Video Communications was founded by Eric Yuan on April 21, 2011, in San Jose, California, in the United States.

HYBRID MEETINGS

Let's begin with this statement from Wikipedia : A hybrid event is a tradeshow, conference, seminar, workshop or other meeting that combines a 'live' in-person event with a 'virtual' online component.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_event

Now that we are seeing a vigorous return to 'live' in-person meetings here in the United States, many members who live in remote areas with few (if any) 'live' in-person A.A. meetings, have been supported in their quest for sobriety through zoom online meetings. These members are fearing their zoom meetings are going to disappear and are very concerned.

A.A. Tradition 5 states : Each group has but one primary purpose -- to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.

To this end, to continue to try to support the zoom meeting population, quite a few 'live' in-person meetings here in the United States are striving to continue both their zoom online meetings and coupling them with the members sitting in the 'live' in-person meetings. 

Thus the term HYBRID MEETINGS has come to be a reality here in A.A.

Change can be difficult for all of us. 

Recently some members here in the United States have stated that Hybrid Meetings are in violation of both Tradition 11 : Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films, and Tradition 12 - Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

The other side to this opinion is the belief that Zoom meetings are NOT open to the public so Tradition 11 does not apply. To find and to enter a zoom meeting, you must first have a zoom meeting identification number and, in some cases, a password and then you must wait in a waiting room until the zoom meeting host allows you to enter the meeting.

Finally we come to Tradition 4 : Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole. The A.A. conference approved book, The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, states on page 146, that every A.A. group can manage its affairs exactly as it pleases, except when A.A. as a whole is threatened and further that every group has the right to be wrong.

I think the Hybrid Meetings are a great solution to helping those in small and remote communities maintain their sobriety.

JAN 23, 21 .. THE FIRST MONTH .. STEP ONE ..

 Step One .. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol -- that our lives had become unmanageable.

I am not now, nor have I ever been powerless over alcohol, until I took the first drink and introduced alcohol into my body. 

Let's keep-it-simple. 

Step One is the admission that we have a problem with alcohol. Pure and simple.

IF a person does not know they have a problem (and this applies to anything) then how can they ever overcome the problem?

Having admitted we have a problem, we then move forward to Step 2.

NOV 5, 20 .. ONE PHOTO .. A VERY SPECIAL MESSAGE ..

 I need say nothing more.

Let's all  .. NOT DRINK JUST FOR TODAY ..

AUG 16, 20 .. WORKING WITH OTHERS - STEP 12

Today, some eighty five (85) years after the first meeting between Bill Wilson and Doctor Bob, working with others (Step 12) remains the one, and the only, activity that we share with the original founding fathers of Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) and all of the early members. 

When the first seeds of A.A. were planted in May of 1935 in Akron, Ohio, there was no A.A. Big Book. So with no A.A. Big Book there were no steps to follow. There were no traditions to guide our meetings. There was basically nothing except the passion of one alcoholic working with another alcoholic sharing their own personal experience of striving, one-day-at-a-time, to not pick up a drink of alcohol.

I continue to work with others on a daily basis. 

Chapter 7 of the A.A. Big Book begins with the following paragraph:

PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail. This is our twelfth suggestion: Carry this message to other alcoholics! You can help when no one else can. You can secure their confidence when others fail. Remember they are very ill.

Today, Sunday the 16th of August 2020, my own personal to-do list included calling a friend in A.A. who I have known for several decades. 

Doing this was so important that I taped a reminder message onto the mirror in our bathroom so I would not forget to call our friend.

Too funny! Almost the instant my wife and I returned from a local A.A. meeting our long time friend Kathleen called us before we called her!

What joy we three received visiting with one-another!

I promised Kathleen I'd include a few photos of a local lake we visit to just relax and enjoy each other's company. It is so close that we can walk to it in 15-minutes.

Yes Oh Yes. We feed the ducks. Both the ducks and my wife and I just love our visits.

What has this got to do with sobriety? 

Everything. Sharing our joy and hope with each other keeps us sober.

Katheen, our dear friend, and anyone following along here who wishes to join us, let's make-a-deal:

Let's NOT DRINK TODAY.

JUL 10, 20 .. ZOOM MEETINGS ONLINE

Turn around, snap your fingers, and it's now July. Since publishing the last post here, oh my how things have changed.

The new world of  Zoom Meetings has arrived.

Some thoughts about them.

http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2020/03/mar-28-20-part-1-of-2-zoomcom-and-my.html

http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2020/03/mar-28-20-part-2-of-2-zoomcom-and-my.html

http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2020/04/apr-2-20-zoomcom-and-my-second-ever-on.html

http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2020/04/apr-9-20-zoomus-and-my-third-on-line.html

There is no question that Zoom Meetings are not the same as live, in-person, meetings. But love them or leave them, for the time being they are-here-to-stay.

Good luck and best wishes.

JAN 31, 20 .. JANUARY .. THE FIRST MONTH .. THE FIRST STEP

Welcome to year 2020. Now ending its first full month.

For those of us 'in recovery', January, the first month of the year, means Step 1.

Step 1 in its most basic sense is the admission that we have a problem. Pure and simple. IF one does not admit, IF one does not know, IF one does not accept the reality of a problem, there can be no solution to the same said problem can there?

Page 30 of the A.A. Big Book, More About Alcoholism, clearly states this:

We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery.

It goes on to state on page 31 that .. 

Despite all we can say, many who are real alcoholics are not going to believe they are in that class. By every form of self-deception and experimentation, they will try to prove themselves exceptions to the rule, therefore nonalcoholic.

It is oft said that Step 1 is the only step we can do perfectly.

This brings me to the definition of the word alcoholic.

Again back to page 30 where it states..

We alcoholics are men and women who have lost the ability to control our drinking.

I feel that many of us honestly believe that we can control our drinking. This flawed thinking causes many to pick up that first drink that begins the cycle of relapse.

For me personally I use the below definition..

I am an alcoholic because I cannot guarantee my actions after I take a drink of alcohol.

Good Luck and Best Wishes in Year 2020.

OCT 30, 19 .. THOUGHTS ON BEING PATIENT AND SPIRITUALITY

On my way to catch a bus here in Ulaanbaatar just the other day, I gave some serious thought to ..

Just For Today .. Just This One Time .. I will NOT be in a rush to catch a bus.

Below is a link to my thoughts.

http://babakaps.net/?p=39067

Appendix II in the Big Book talks about a spiritual awakening or a spiritual experience being a change within us.

Step 6 is about character defects. Being impatient is one of my character defects that I must work at improving. You don't rid yourself of a character defect. You replace it with a character affect.

Just some thoughts should you wish to consider them.