A thought struck me today. Each time I lust or form a resentment, I am trying to hold onto something that is not mine to hold. With lust I am taking the image of the person which prevents me from actually seeing them as a person. With resentments, I am holding onto their defects, which are normally my defects, again preventing me from seeing the person in front of me.
Earlier today, my family and I had to put our 11-year-old dog Cody down due to complications following cancer and other assorted and cumulative ailments. He was blind and had recently lost his hearing and his teeth. He had become increasingly lame, irritable, discontent and restless—boy, do I relate to those character defects.
I am retired and in my personal travels I made an effort to visit local groups when I could. On some occasions the groups I visited were small and had limited sobriety. In those cases I was often asked to give my story. I am always grateful for a chance to be of service by sharing my personal experience, strength, and hope and making new friends.
New Zealand has a relatively young fellowship with much to learn from the experience of other international groups. With five main centers and an intergroup that has been in existence for approximately three years, we have the structure in place to allow proliferation of the fellowship Down Under.
The current membership of the Russian-speaking Intergroup comprises groups from Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Until recently, SA members from Ukraine have been an active part of the RIG, but now they decided to become an independent Intergroup.
The main purpose of the SA fellowship is to carry the message to the sexaholic who still suffers, but to do that when the fellowship today ranges to the ends of the earth? Translations is one of the crucial channels to get in touch with SA worldwide.
I’m Bruno J. and I’ve been serving on the SA IT Committee for the past 4 years. Communication technology is playing an increasing role in the basic function of our fellowship.
Dear Essay, I was so grateful when I saw the August magazine titled “Supporting Women in SA.” Topics such as getting a sponsor, working the steps, mixed meetings, boundaries, service, and participating in the fellowship reminded me of my journey to recovery.
My sponsor defined “insight” as having an understanding of my behaviors. So, to me, having an understanding of why I am addicted to lust and sex has been a huge eye-opener.
Dear Essay readers, As we considered our options for the “old-timers” theme of this edition, we looked firstly at limiting ourselves to articles from members with 30+ years’ sobriety—all but one of these would be from the US, but thought this too narrow. Therefore, we decided to broaden the review, taking articles from members who are not simply sober for years, but that each of them would have either the longest sobriety or be a pioneer in his/her country.
