Portland Sunday Night East is fluctuating with attendance between 18-35, and sobriety from none to three years. Dennis B. is acting secretary and Dan K. is treasurer and everything else. Two members celebrated one year of sobriety: Dan P. in August and Dan K. in October. Also Matt B. will celebrate one year in October.
Our group is still small—nine in all—but we have good attendance at meetings, and growing sobriety. Honesty and solid sharing mark our meetings, which include at times hearty laughter, at other times the weeping that comes from intense pain or joyous release. Not everyone has a sponsor, and that’s troublesome. We’re also working on starting and closing our meetings punctually.
On Tuesday, September 7th, the first SA meeting in Saudi Arabia, to our knowledge, was held in Dhahran at the house of one of the members. So far there are only two of us, but we have some literature which I brought from London, and we both have experience of other Twelve-Step programs.
We celebrated our first birthday in the Tokyo Group in August. We average four or five members every week—three come by train, the farthest traveling two hours. A few Japanese who speak English well have joined the group and eventually we hope to begin a Japanese SA group.
The quality of sharing in meetings has been on my mind, off and on, for several months. I’ve been finding it increasingly frustrating when the sharing veers off from the topic introduced by the lead speaker.
As I read through the history of SA and of AA, one thing becomes very obvious. We are not helpless when problems arise at the meetings. We are not helpless precisely because we have the strength of the Higher Power to lead us, if we but seek His way and His will, and if we have the fellowship of one or two like-minded members.
As a recovering sexaholic, I am constantly amazed at how my perception of the world continues to clear up as I accrue more recovery and sobriety. Just the fact that I have been able to draw a distinction between recovery and sobriety is a testament to the fact that my “fog” has begun to lift. This simple separation has been key for me, for as we have all seen, and maybe even experienced, mere sobriety is just not enough if we are to truly be “happy, joyous and free.”
What led to the new solution-oriented program: “We got tired of the tidal wave of slipping.”
Agenda: January 1994 conference in Rochester; service committee reports; other business.
The meeting on chronic slipping was completely without resentment! (at least, no resentment about the theme…). Some people identified as chronic slippers. Some asked for a sponsor.
