Aa Beyond Belief

Angela and I have a conversation with Dale K. about the " We Agnostics" chapter in Big Book. Dale wrote a secular version of the first 164 pages in the Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous, and in this episode, he explains why.  The post Episode 185: Talking About We Agnostics with Dale K. first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

In this episode, Angela and I are joined by Bri, a friend from my homegroup, to discuss relationships. We take a look at the issues we faced with relationships while we were drinking, as well as in recovery. Bri goes into detail about some of her early experiences, and Angela talks about the developmental theory of relationships and how that is problematic for people in recovery.  The post Episode 184: Relationships in Sobriety first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

In this episode, Joe C. from Rebellion Dogs Radio joins Angela and John for a brief overview of the history of secular AA groups. This episode was recorded live on YouTube and Facebook on July 10, 2020. We live stream every Friday night at 7:00 pm on the AA Beyond Belief YouTube Channel, public Facebook page, and our private Facebook group. Come join us!  The post Episode 183: A Brief History of Secular AA first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

This episode was recorded from a live stream originally posted on July 3, 2020, on YouTube and Facebook. Angela and I talk about the role that music played in our lives both while drinking and now as sober people. This was a free-flowing conversation that went into other topics.  The post Episode 182: Music in Recovery first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

Mark K. knows he needs more than AA to stay sober. Before attending his first AA meeting, he was receiving professional help from a therapist who he continues to see to this day, and who encourages him to remain open to any activity or resource that supports his recovery. Mark fully embraces this approach, and in this episode, he walks us through his journey, describing the tools and resources that helped him stay sober since May 16, 2013. The post Episode 181: Mark K.'s Many Paths to Sobriety first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

This episode features a conversation about the 12 Steps with John C. from Berkeley, California. We talk about how there is often exaggerated importance placed on them. The Steps, which are primarily experiential become an academic exercise for many. Some AA members will talk about finishing Steps, but some don't have a defined beginning and end. How do you finish Step One for example? It's an interesting conversation that I think you will enjoy. The audio quality is strained in spots, but it worth working through that to hear the entire conversation.  The post Episode 180: About those Steps - A Conversation with John C. first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

In this episode, I speak with David S., a stand-up comedian in the Kanas City area who has been sober for thirty-seven years at the time of this recording. We talk about his recovery, the challenges of being a secular person in AA, his thoughts about agnostic AA meetings, and how he got involved with performing comedy. The post Episode 179: David S. first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

In this episode Angela and I talk about Tradition Three: The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking."  We review the history of the tradition taken from a talk by Barry L., author of Living Sober, that he gave at the 1985 International AA Convention in Montreal. This is followed with a discussion about how we experience the tradition today. This was recorded Live on YouTube on June 26, 2020. Every Friday, we have a live call in show on YouTube and Facbook. In this episode, sound quality from the caller is not very good and is difficult to make out. Otherwise, this was a fun episode and I thin you will enjoy listening. 

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Adina Slvestri from Life Cycles Counseling in Richmond, Virginia. Dr. Silvestri is a licensed family therapist who specializes in treating women with substance abuse issues, children impacted by trauma, and helping people cope and better handle anger. She is also the host of "The Atheists in Recovery Podcast", which features guests with an expertise in addiction whether they be professionals or people with first hand experience with addiction and recovery. 

In this episode, I'm joined by my friend Sam S. from my home group in Kansas City to discuss the novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson. This story is a great metaphor for alcoholism and drug addiction, and though I have always been familiar with story simply by reference in popular culture, I found that actually reading the book and then discussing it with Sam to be quite educational. 

This episode was recorded from our weekly Friday night live stream on YouTube. Every week, Angela and I cover a topic we think may be of interest to secular people in AA, and this particular episode was all about outside issues. We are living through a pandemic the likes of which hasn't been experienced in over a hundred years, millions of us have lost our jobs in numbers not seen since the great depression, and our society is grappling with the difficult and painful issues of racism and injustice. All of these external events affect us deeply, and it could be argued that talking about these events and our feelings about them is just what we need to do.

IIn this episode Angela and I discuss our experiences speaking at AA meetings and offer tips and suggestions that you may find helpful when speaking at other groups. We talk about the importance of knowing your audience, staying on time and on track, and formats other than the standard “what it was like, what happened, and what it’s like now.” We also cover how to record your talk and why that may be important. This was recorded during our weekly lives stream on YouTube and features listeners calling into the show as well as comments from the YouTube chatroom. You can join our live stream every Friday night at 7:00 PM CDT at the AA Beyond Belief YouTube Channel.

This episode features a conversation with two people in recovery who were adopted as children. Lisa K., a Korean adoptee describes her struggle with identification as an Asian person growing up with a white family in a white world. David B. Bohl, author of Parallel Universes: The Story of Rebirth shares his personal journey as one who was relinquished at birth as a way of providing some perspective that may help understand the correlation between being adopted and problems with substance abuse later in life.

Rich S., a physician from Portland, Oregon shares his experience as a healthcare professional in recovery from alcoholism, and he helps us understand the special challenges facing healthcare workers as they confront a global pan

This episode is a recording from a talk given by Carmen X. in Kansas City, Missouri in February 2019. Carmen begins by noting that she believes she was born with two genetic variations. One that made her a trans woman and the other that made her an alcoholic. She briefly shared her story of recovery, and then the microphone was passed around the room for comments from others who attended the meeting. 

Is acceptance the answer to all our problems, or is it only a starting point, or maybe it's where we end up after going through a process? That's what this episode is all about. How we understand and incorporate the concept of acceptance into our recovery.

This episode features a conversation with Gary Chattaway, a recovery advocate from London, England whose work can be found on his website thehumanglitch.com, and his YouTube Channel. Gary is the author of The Human Glitch a short book that briefly describes his experience with alcohol addiction. He is currently working on a new book that will delve deeper into how he overcame alcohol cravings and what he learned that can help you kick start your recovery. 

In this episode Angela and John talk with Sam S., who teaches History and Social Studies at a high school in a rural area of Kansas. After sharing her recovery story, an interesting discussion ensues about the challenges she faces as a teacher and person in recovery, and how parents, teachers, and students are dealing with the unique circumstances resulting from the social isolation brought on by necessity as a response to the Covid 19 pandemic.  This is a recording of a live stream that we broadcast on YouTube and Facebook every Friday night at 7:00 pm Central. Please join us as we take calls from listeners and respond to questions and comments posted on YouTube and Facebook. 

Although alcoholism runs through his family history, Chad's growing up years seemed normal to him. He felt loved and secure in his home environment. Looking back if there was anything about him that seemed unusual was a general sense of unease and a tendency toward perfectionism. In this episode Chad talks about his experience with alcoholism, recovery, and the secular AA meetings he attends in Arizona. 

Inspired by an article published by Aces Too High News on May 2, 2017, this episode features a discussion about the role that adverse childhood experiences plays in the development of addiction later in life. Is addiction a disease or a normal comfort seeking response to childhood trauma, or is it a little of both?