12 Step Self-Help Group Links etc.

Facebook Groups and my New Websites

we can talk on Messenger Google Hangouts has been Cancelled...Sad

https://www.facebook.com/Carolyn.Everett.McRae/

Almost 5,000 Friends/Followers

ave been in 12 Step Programs Since May 15, 1985..

Nothing worse than a Counselor that is Sicker than YOU!! LOL

Online Counseling and Support - No Charge!!

Contact - 902-901-0600

Family- Addiction - Psychologist- MINISTER- Art /Pet Therapy & Hypnosis for Post Traumatic Therapy etc.

They call me “Ny 9-11 Canadian Angel”

that was on CNN and in the the New Papers St. Paul's Church- Ground Zero-Volunteer- New York City, 2001

Teens 12 Step Church GodHigherpower-Not-Guilt

https://www.facebook.com/groups/449032876183919

AAA 12 Step Caring Counselling Clinical Society

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AAA12StepCCCSociety/

AAA 12 Step Caring Counselling C.Society

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057015747057

12 Step Church "God/Higherpower Not Guilt"

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1368193806548272

12 Step Family Healing Villages Foundation

https://12stepfamilyhealingvillages.org/

https://12stepfamilyhealingvillages.wordpress.com

https://www.facebook.com/groups/500938894233849

The A.A. Program Spiritual But Never Religious

https://www.aacleve.org/program-spiritual-never-religious/

One of the most common misconceptions about Alcoholics Anonymous is that it is a religious organization. New members especially, confronted with A.A.’s emphasis on recovery from alcoholism by spiritual means, often translate “spiritual” as “religious” and shy away from meetings, avoiding what they perceive as a new and frightening set of beliefs. By the time they walk into their first meeting, many alcoholics have lost what faith they might once have possessed; others have tried religion to stop drinking and failed; still others simply want nothing to do with it. Yet with rare exceptions, once A.A. members achieve any length of sobriety, they have found a source of strength outside themselves — a Higher Power, by whatever name — and the stumbling block has disappeared.

A Program of Action

A.A.’s Twelve Steps, which constitute its program of recovery, are in no way a statement of belief; they simply describe what the founding members did to get sober and stay sober. They contain no new ideas: surrender, self-inventory, confession to someone outside ourselves, and some form of prayer and meditation are concepts found in spiritual movements throughout the world for thousands of years. What the Steps do is frame these principles for the suffering alcoholic — sick, frightened, defiant, and grimly determined not to be told what to do or think or believe.

The Steps offer a detailed plan of action: admit that alcohol has you beaten, clean up your own life, admit your faults and do whatever it takes to change them, maintain a relationship with whatever or whoever outside of yourself can help keep you sober, and work with other alcoholics.

God As We Understood Him

The basic principles of Alcoholics Anonymous were worked out in the late 1930s and early ’40s, during what co-founder Bill W. often referred to as the Fellowship’s period of “trial and error.” The founding members had been using six steps borrowed from the Oxford Groups, where many of them started out. Bill felt that more specific instructions would be better, and in the course of writing A.A.’s basic text, Alcoholics Anonymous, he expanded them to twelve. But he was dealing with a group of newly sober drunks, and not surprisingly his new version met with spirited opposition. Even though the founding members were in many ways a homogeneous bunch (white, middle-class, almost exclusively male, and primarily Christian in background), they represented the full spectrum of opinion and belief. Bill tells us in Alcoholic Anonymous Comes of Age, a history of the Fellowship’s early years, that “the hot debate about the Twelve Steps and the book’s content was doubled and redoubled. There were conservative, liberal, and radical viewpoints.” (page 162) Some thought the book ought to be Christian; others could accept the word “God” but were opposed to any other theological proposition. And the atheists and agnostics wanted to delete all references to God and take a psychological approach.

Bill concludes: “We finally began to talk about the possibility of compromise. . . . In Step Two we decided to describe God as a ‘Power greater than ourselves.’ In Steps Three and Eleven we inserted the words ‘God as we understood Him.’ From Step Seven we deleted the words ‘on our knees.’ And, as a lead-in sentence to all the steps we wrote these words: ‘Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery.’ A.A.’s Twelve Steps were to be suggestions only.” (ibid., page 167).

More than sixty years later, those crucial compromises, articulated after weeks of heated controversy, have made it possible for alcoholics of all faiths, or no faith at all, to embrace the A.A. program of recovery and find lasting sobriety.

What About This Spiritual Awakening Thing?

Nevertheless, the phrase “spiritual awakening,” found in the Twelfth Step and throughout A.A. literature, remains daunting to many beginners. For some, it conjures up a dramatic “conversion” experience — not an appealing idea to an alcoholic just coming off a drunk. To others, beaten down by years of steady drinking, it seems completely out of reach. But for those who persevere, ongoing sobriety almost invariably brings the realization that — in some wonderful and unexpected way — they have indeed experienced a spiritual change.

Spirituality, A.A. style, is the result of action. Step Twelve begins, “Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps. . .” (italics added), and in the book Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (page 106), Bill W. describes what happens: “Maybe there are as many definitions of spiritual awakening as there are people who have had them. But certainly each genuine one has something in common with all the others. . . . When a man or woman has a spiritual awakening, the most important meaning of it is that he has now become able to do, feel, and believe that which he could not do before on his unaided strength and resources alone. He has been granted a gift which amounts to a new state of consciousness and being. He has been set on a path which tells him he is really going somewhere, that life is not a dead end, not something to be endured or mastered. In a very real sense he has been transformed, because he has laid hold of a source of strength which, in one way or another, he had hitherto denied himself.”

Groups and Their Customs

If the Steps are the program of recovery, the A.A. group is where alcoholics learn to live the program and practice it “in all their affairs.” Virtually all group meetings in the U.S. and Canada begin with a reading of the A.A. Preamble, a brief description of what the Fellowship is and is not. Its last two sentences make it clear that A.A.’s purpose has nothing to do with religion: “A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.”

Group customs that appear to be religious sometimes discourage new people from coming back. Professionals who refer people to A.A. may help by advising them to attend a variety of meetings, especially in the first year of sobriety, and to find a home group where they are comfortable. According to A.A.’s Fourth Tradition, each group is autonomous, which means in practical terms that every group is unique, with a flavor all its own. Thus, even if a shaky alcoholic finds himself one night in a meeting where the members feel at home with traditional religious language, he or she can try again the next night and find a group where even the most doubting or cynical soul will fit right in.

Similarly, A.A. members generally deal with the question of a Higher Power by assuring new members that they are free to find their own. Men and women who shy away from what is known in A.A. vernacular as the “God bit” can still identify a much-needed source of support outside themselves. For some, it is their A.A. group; others eventually choose a traditional idea of God, while still others rely upon an entirely different concept of a higher power. To show the variety of spiritual searches in A.A. the booklet Came to Believe was published in 1973. It is a collection of the various spiritual experiences of a wide range of members, from adherents of traditional religion to atheists and agnostics, with all stops in between.

But Don’t A.A. Groups Use the Lord’s Prayer?

The practice of ending meetings with the Lord’s Prayer, once almost universal, is still common in many areas. Where it still exists, the leader normally asks attendees to join in only if they choose to. North American groups today have found a variety of ways to close their meetings. Use of the Lord’s Prayer is rare in Spanish groups in the U.S. and groups outside the United States. Many recite the Serenity Prayer or A.A.’s Responsibility Statement; others use some other informal prayer or phrasing, or simply a moment of silence. And whatever the specific wording, the group conscience makes the decision.

Groups that continue to close with the Lord’s Prayer are following a custom established in the Fellowship’s earliest days, when many of the founding members found their support in meetings of the Oxford Groups. The practice of closing with the Lord’s Prayer very likely came directly from those meetings. At the time, there was no A.A. literature, and so the founders leaned heavily on Bible readings for inspiration and guidance. They probably closed with the Lord’s Prayer because, as Bill W. explained, “it did not put speakers to the task, embarrassing to many, of composing prayers of their own.” Meeting formats became more inclusive once A.A. began to spread throughout North America and then the rest of the world, and it became obvious that the program of recovery could cross all barriers of creed, race, and religion.

In Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age, the Rev. Samuel Shoemaker, one of the nonalcoholic friends who was instrumental in shaping the Fellowship in the very beginning, reflects on the founders’ fundamental decision not to define a set of beliefs. He says (pages 263-64): “A.A. has been supremely wise, I think, in emphasizing the reality of the experience, and acknowledging that it came from a higher Power than human, and leaving the interpretation part pretty much at that. . . . If A.A.’s had said more, some people would have wanted them to say a great deal more, and define God in a way acceptable and congenial to themselves. It would have taken only two or three groups like this, dissenting from one another, to wreck the whole business. . . . So they stuck to the inescapable experiences and told people to turn their wills and their lives over to the care of God as they understood Him. That left the theory and the theology. . . to the churches to which people belong. If they belonged to no church and could hold no consistent theory, then they had to give themselves to the God that they saw in other people. That’s not a bad way to set in motion the beginnings of a spiritual experience.”

Source – General Service Office, A Newsletter for Professionals, Fall 2003

https://sites.google.com/site/aaa12stepccounsellingcsociety/

Our program is founded on wisdom,

and the wisdom of the program is the light of our lives.

Our wise 12 Steps and Traditions for fail-safe guidance.

The price of wisdom is above rubies.

--Job 28:18

http://cares-lifes-wisdom-allsorts-pet-stuff.blogspot.ca/2017/05/our-wise-12-steps-and-traditions-for.html

We are heroes = 12 Step recovery.

You are the hero of your life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWH7VpSIxJY

Mickey Bush NA Speaker London Drink & Drugs Recovery AA CA Alcoholics Anonymous Stop Drinking

LOVE and Funny!!!!

"Oh, God, help me! If you get me out of this mess, I'll never screw up again."

This was our favorite prayer before we entered the Program.

We were always bargaining with God.

I will seek my Higher Power's will for me.

Trying to pray is praying.--Anonymous

http://cares-lifes-wisdom-allsorts-pet-stuff.blogspot.ca/2017/05/i-will-seek-my-higher-powers-will-for-me.html

A real blessing of growing old is the freedom it gives us to be who we really are.

Of course, we could have been our real selves our whole lives.

No doubt some of us were. However, far too many of us struggled to impress others with the person we thought we ought to be, and in the process, we lost a lot of real living.

Fortunately,it's never too late to project the real us.

http://cares-lifes-wisdom-allsorts-pet-stuff.blogspot.ca/2017/05/fulfilling-whatever-dreams-we-want.html

My contribution to every experience today can be

according to God's will, if I ask for knowledge of it.

http://cares-lifes-wisdom-allsorts-pet-stuff.blogspot.ca/2017/05/impulsive-reactions-never-benefit-us.html

AAA 12 Step Caring Counselling Clinical Society

On Line

Life Coach for YOU & YOURS!

My Gratitude Links from God =got them back..with God's Help!!

https://sites.google.com/site/12stepchurch4u/

902-932- 8621

My Gratitude Links from God

with God's Help!!

Forgiving others and ourselves John Bradshaw

http://aaa12stepcccsociety.blogspot.ca/2017/03/aaa12stepccounsellingcsociety-john_8.html

https://ny-9-11-canadianangel-books-etc.blogspot.ca/2017/03/aaa.html

www.johnbradshaw.com

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CaresLifesWisdom AllsortsPetStuff

for Meditations and buying my Books

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Care's Lifes Wisdom About Allsorts-Pets-Stuff-Etc

We need board members for Tax Deduction purposes.

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AAA12StepCCCSociety

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LifeCoach4Teens&U

@ny911CanAngel

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LifeCoach4TeensAndU .

Everett-McRae

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Care'sWisdom &PetEtc

@CaresLifeWisdom

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http://cares-lifes-wisdom-allsorts-pet-stuff.blogspot.com

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Care'sWisdom &PetEtc

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LIKE ME!!!

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stuff.blogspot.ca/

www.coda.org

http://www.cdrs.ca/

http://www.daa-quebec.org/rencontres.asp

www.Adultchildren.org

www.12steps.org

www.johnbradshaw.com

www.melodybeattie.com

www.Hazelden.org

http://www.snapnetwork.org

Support group for women and men wounded by religious authority figures (priests, ministers, bishops, deacons, nuns, brothers, monks, & others)

little things that count: going to meetings etc.....

My Links

https://sites.google.com/site/aaa12stepccounsellingcsociety

https://sites.google.com/site/12stepchurch4u/

http://aaa12stepcccsociety.blogspot.ca/2017/01/we-are-creatures-of-habit-httpswww.html

https://sites.google.com/site/careslifeandwisdometc/

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"Sponsorship, Meeting Etiquette, and More"

12-Step Alcoholism Recovery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liNgTaYmiYM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1NuJCXB44U

Sponsor

In recovery, we develop daily habits that we don't question: the habit of attending meetings, the habit of picking up the telephone to call a sponsor or to share with another recovering person, the habit of starting and ending the day with our preferred combination of prayer, literature, and meditation. We do these things whether we feel like doing them or not, and in time they become second nature to us, automatic as our addictive behavior was in the past. If we don't have to discuss these habits with ourselves, argue about whether or not they'll make us feel better, or question whether we've outgrown them, our burden is lighter.

Once we're at a meeting or sharing with another recovering person or with our Higher Power, the unexpected happens. We're lifted out of the tyranny of addictive thinking. "Smart feet" are feet that carry us to a place we need to be, whether we know it ahead of time or not.

http://chinaaaloners.com/

http://www.haveigotaproblem.com/video/1855/New-Marijuana-Documentary-2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui2hNSxcXCs

https://www.marijuana-anonymous.org/

MA - Marijuana Anonymous

The Preamble and Who is a Marijuana Addict from the book Life with Hope: A Return to living through the 12 steps and 12 traditions of Marijuana Anonymous.

MARIJUANA-ANONYMOUS.ORG

Known Artists

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=aa.na+sober+celebs

https://www.sandiegoaddictions.com/24-celebrities-celebrating-sobriety/

https://www.facebook.com/serenityvista/videos/1166210983443020/

http://www.cleanandsobernotdead.com/Pages/knownartists.html

Alcoholics Anonymous

ORGANIZATION

The original 12-step self-help group for combating alcoholism, founded in 1935.

Official Website:http://www.aa.org/

12 step program websites

https://www.facebook.com/upliftconnect/videos/846444885492494/

Subscribe to 12 Step Recovery

These are some of our favorite sites that support recovery

Sponsor To Sponsor 12 Step CDs Web of

Addictions Twin Town Treatment Center Recovery

Gifts Recovery World The Man In A Glass Online

Recovery We Recover Online Alano Club AA

History Bookstore Dickb-blog.com Drug Abuse

Awareness Blog AA History Freedom Ranch on

Maui KHLT Radio Broadcasting Recovery

Crossroads Recovery Life The Complete Serenity

Prayer

twelve step.com (good resource listing) Alcohol

and Drug Fellowship Recovery man site Sober

Recovery Resources (Great Site!) British

Recovery Support Sobriety and Recovery

Resources Rape Recovery Help Recovery

From Bible Abuse AA Outreach AA 3rd

Edition Big Book Clutterless Recovery

Meetings Eating Disorder Support Support

For Your Recovery AA Speakers

Tapes Recovery Chat.com AA Online

Meetings Listings Survivors

Help Transgender/Gay/Lesbian Recovery

Support Recovery Support Cybersober

Chat Open Minded Support Sober 24

Resources Google Index of Support

Sites Hazelden Resources For

Recovery Secular Organizations For Sobriety

Coping.Org Recovery Emporium AA

meetings in England AA meetings in USA AA

links AA History and Trivia Dick B's AA

History Dryblog (A Personal

Favorite) !tzalist Health Directory The

Recovery Zone (Cool Site!) Recovery Chats 12

Step Songs The West Virginia Tool Box Recovery

With Depth Warm Ladies In Recovery There Is A

Solution Alcoholic News

On-Line

ProtectKids.com

Check this out.....listen to RECOVERY RADIO while chatting or surfing the net

12stepradio.com KEWL TRUE

RECOVERY MUSIC

Gamers Anonymous

We are On-Line Gamers Anonymous, an organization and web site dedicated to helping those addicted to on-line games. We also welcome the gamer's friends and family, by offering our support and sympathy.

Regardless of involvement or severity of addiction, these web pages and message board forums are always open to those in need.

"Just as we assume a responsibility to guard our young people up to a certain age from the possible harmful effects of alcohol and tobacco, so do I believe we have a right and a responsibility to protect them from the even more harmful effects of exposure to smut and pornography. We can and must frame legislation that will accomplish this purpose without endangering freedom of speech and the press."

Reformers Unanimous Addictions Program

Reformers Unanimous is a faith based addiction treatment program with residential treatment facilities in Illinois, and recovery classes in 500 US cities.

ProtectKids.com

Check this out.....listen to RECOVERY RADIO while chatting or surfing the net

12stepradio.com KEWL TRUE

RECOVERY MUSIC

Gamers Anonymous

We are On-Line Gamers Anonymous, an organization and web site dedicated to helping those addicted to on-line games. We also welcome the gamer's friends and family, by offering our support and sympathy.

Regardless of involvement or severity of addiction, these web pages and message board forums are always open to those in need.

Reformers Unanimous Addictions Program

Another great station to tune into while on

the web is