I heard today that SoCal AA mtgs are some of the best in the nation…was at a mtg where a guy shared that AA mtgs on the east coast were different because they said not to give advice. Anyone else in the east coast in AA experience this??
At some point in recovery I learned that there’s a difference between suggestion, advice and direction.
Their advice is not to give advice? Ha. But I’ve heard similar - to share your own experience/ story and let others learn from that and know you better. There seems to be different cultural veins of recovery. I’ve been to meetings where people talk over each other/cross talk at the guy they are trying to fix with their opinions and I cringe. When it’s just someone telling their story there seems to be more of a neutral feeling tone to listening, it lacks the quality of manipulation/ fixing/ controlling which is self centered (I know better about the problem/ solution than this guy) and which AA says is the primary issue.
You take whatever you like from a meeting no matter where it is. Never had a bad meeting.
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I enjoyed an orange county, so Cal meeting where we wore ties on our birthdays and in general treated ourselves with respect and dignity. We took the program seriously and somewhat formally. Heliotrope meeting.
If anyone is speaking on behalf of an entire area of AA they are probably full of sh.. I can go to meetings 20 miles apart that have a completely different vibe.
If you are analyzing meetings, you are probably overthinking. lol
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