Posts By :

Mark S

Help Us Prepare For Our Next Show On Serenity

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Our next show is on Monday, December 2, 2013 at 6:30 pm EST (-5 GMT).  The Recovery Topic will be Serenity.  Take the survey and join us live!

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

Thanksgiving- Recovered 454

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In the United States, on the 4th Thursday of November, we have a national holiday called thanksgiving.  It’s a time that we take the opportunity to gather with friends and family and celebrate the things we are thankful for.  So this episode is also set aside to talk about the things that we are thankful for.  

We also want to acknowledge that this can be the most difficult time of year for us alcoholics and al-anons. So we’d like to practice our program with one of our basic recovery tools, the gratitude list. To kick off the show, let’s take a look at what our listeners are grateful for.  We asked the question, “What difficulties can you be grateful for? What thoughts do you have about being able to look at past difficulties as blessings in disguise?

Let’s turn our discussions to you our hosts.  Let’s start this discussion with people in our lives

1. Who do you appreciate? How has recovery affected your attitude toward the people in your lives?
2. How are you fortunate?  How has recovery played a part in your ability to be grateful about your circumstances?
3. What material possessions are you thankful for?
4. What abilities do you have that you are grateful for?
5. What about your surroundings (home/neighborhood/city/etc.) are you thankful for?
6. What experiences have you had that you are grateful for?
7. What happened today/yesterday/this week/this month/this year that you are grateful for?
8. What opportunities do you have that you are thankful for?
9. What have others in your life done that you are thankful for?
10. What have others done that you are benefiting from in your life (even if you don’t know who those people are)?
11. What relationships are you thankful for?
12. What are you taking for granted that, if you stop to think about it, you are grateful for?
13. What is there about the challenges/difficulties you have experienced (or are currently experiencing) that you can be thankful for? (e.g., What have you learned? How have you grown?)
14. What is different today than it was a year ago that you are thankful for?
15. What insights have you gained that you are grateful for?

Final Thoughts

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Help Us Prepare For Our Next Show on Gratitude

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What difficulties are you grateful for?  Take our survey and help us prepare for our next show on Tuesday, November 26 at 8:00 pm EST (-5 GMT).

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

Recovery on the Road – Recovered 453

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How do you maintain your recovery program when away from your home group.  Whether it be vacation, away to school, or on business trips, what do you do to stay in touch with recovering people when you are separated from your immediate community?

First, what did you used to do when on the road before the program?

What do you do now?

what literature?

How do you find meetings?

What was your experience at these meetings?

Describe the best

Describe the worst

Phone calls Prayer?

Call sponsor? How do you do it?

Call friends? Any different than at home?

Hotline?

Skype? Internet?

other What sites

Listen to Other?

podcasts?

speaker mp3s?

books?

other

Watch

netflix

broadcast tv

other

Final Thoughts

http://anonpress.org/bb/

http://aa.org/twelveandtwelve/en_tableofcnt.cfm

http://www.hazelden.org/web/public/thought.view?catId=1901

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Days of Wine and Roses Movie Review – Recovered 452

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Last week we attended the Traverse City Fall Round Up.  Which is a regional AA conference.  I spoke on Sunday and gave my Open Talk with an emphasis on my spiritual journey.


Following our reflections, we will play an episode we participated in with The Recovery Show.  We all watched the movie Days of Wine and Roses and then we recorded an episode on our reaction to this movie about alcoholics, recovery, and relapse.


I’m attending a suicide survivors support group with victims that range from 14 to 35. The time since death ranges from 30 years to 3 months. Just like AA, there is no other place where you can talk about these feelings. The question of why, why didn’t’ we see it? We are haunted by the thought that we could have prevented this disaster.


I’ve been working in Toronto and commuting back and forth with my co-worker. He’s a faithful Muslim, he’s from northern Africa and has a green card.He also has French nationality. Try to explain this gracefully to the boarder patrol when trying to cross the border. I’m always terrified when I try to re enter the USA, I just imagine getting my car searched .


Now we are going to play an episode we participated in  from The Recovery Show….

Check out this episode!

Help Us Prepare For Our Next Show

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On Monday, November 18 at 6:30 pm EST (-5 GMT) our Recovery Topic will be:
Recovery On The Road – How Do You Work a Program?
So help us prepare by taking this survey.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

Bonus 002 – Mark S. TC Fall Round Up Open Talk – Recovered 451

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This is the Open Talk I gave on November 3, 2013.  My talk was supposed to be the Spiritual Talk, but when I opened my discussion with an F-Bomb, I guess that ended that.
The Traverse City Fall Round Up was an awesome experience for both me and my wife Anna.  We met so many kind and wonderful people who treated us like we were special.  John and Cindy spoke on Friday night and they have been on the speaker circuit for some time and know all the big names in AA.  John was very generous in his advice to me, John told me to just go out and have some fun.
Mary D spoke on Saturday night and she is a dynamic and funny person.  Her story and our story intersect at the place called tragedy.  We will forever be connected by these tragic events that are sure to happen to those of us who love addicts and alcoholics.
Dan F. and Andrea are friends from our home group.  We didn’t know that they were conducting a panel discussion.  They shared their experience strength and hope in regards to The Family Afterward.  Andrea, an AlAnon and Dan the alcoholic also shared from the heart and won the crown over with their wit and charm.  We hung out with these two for the rest of the weekend and we had a ball.
Thank you so much for contributing to The Recovered Podcast.  Contributions you make allow us to share the story of hope to a world that desperately needs it.
Peace

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Service Work Ryan D – Recovered 450

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This is an interview with Ryan D from Traverse City, Michigan. Ryan was the speaker chair person for the Traverse City Fall Round Up, an annual regional conference held in Norther Michigan.  Ryan is a great supporter of The Recovered Podcast and asked us to participate in this regional conference.

Ryan shares his experience, strength, and hope relative to his service commitments he’s made over the years.  We recorded this interview with my iPhone using my mobile set up, I think the sound is improving each time.
Check out this episode!

TC Round-Up Reflections

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Our open talk on our spiritual journey as a result of our son’s passing was well received. Members from Canton Candlelight and Vision For You were here and it was great be with every one.The other speakers, John and Cindy, Mary, and Andrea and Dan were all powerful and inspirational. I have all the mp3 files and I will be making them available.

 We are finding that survivors of suicide are abundant in both AA and Alanon. I’m wondering why I haven’t heard their stories st meetings before. Is it possible that the stigma of suicide prevents even one of us from sharing. I’m wondering what your thoughts are on this subject.

Anna and I plan to record some premium episodes about our journey to The Traverse City Roundup while we are still basking in the glow of this event.

Don’t forget that November 11 will be a special episode with Jim Balmer, president of Dawn Farm. Our topic will be The History of AA. So join us live on Monday November 11 at 6:30 EST (-5 GMT).

Recovery Is Alive and Well in Traverse City

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We are currently attending the Regional Conference at Traverse City Michigan. Your generous contributions to the show will help with the costs for us being up here. Thanks for helping us carry the message of hope to the new guy in Northern Michigan. Friday night speakers were John and Cindy from Texas. Cindy, an Alanon, and John, an AA, were funny and engaging. Not an easy act to follow for us on Sunday morning, pray for us. John and Cindy know all the big names in AA today and we had dinner with them and we were enlightened to hear about Clancy I., etc. on a personal level. More to follow….