OCT 27, 19 .. A MOMENT .. AN INSTANT .. IN TIME

The Doctor's Opinion says that we drink essentially because we like the effect produced by alcohol.

I'll translate that : We drink to change the way we are feeling.

In that vein I'll add the below:

If we are feeling bad, I don't think that we can think our way into feeling better. We have to act our way into changing how we feel. 

This is what HALT is all about. If we are feeling bad are we Hungry Angry Lonely Tired?

It was on a beautiful Autumn Sunday afternoon in San Francisco, California, that this spiritual awakening / spiritual experience occurred in my life.

It transpired in a micro-second but it has stayed with me ever since it visited me now over 30-years ago.

It was the Autumn of 1987 and I was home watching 'My Team', the San Francisco Forty Niners, playing a National Football League game.

And?

The visiting team was giving the Forty Niners all that they the Forty Niners could handle and it was looking bad for 'My Team'. I was getting tense and uptight and ..

BAM 

This series of thoughts suddenly visited me:

"What's wrong with this picture? This sporting event is affecting the way I feel and I'm tense and uptight and I'm not feeling very good."

"It is a gorgeous Autumn afternoon outside. There is an A.A. meeting at 3pm. I am going to turn off the game, get on my bicycle, have a nice ride through Golden Gate Park, and enjoy a meeting."

And?

I did just that. Then I shared in the meeting the above series of events and why I was at the meeting on a beautiful Autumn Sunday afternoon.

And?

Here in late October of 2019, at least 30-years later, the Washington Nationals baseball team is playing the Houston Astros in the World Series. 

Washington won the first two games, on-the-road, in Houston. Now it looks like the Astros will win a second consecutive game in Washington and I'm going to stop following this craziness because it is affecting the way I feel and I am not feeling good.

And I did what I did back in San Francisco, I stopped following this years World Series because I am not willing to let a sporting event affect the way I feel in a negative way.

And?

I feel much better.

And I'm Smiling .. 

OCT 4, 19 .. A TALE OF THREE MEETINGS .. CHAPTER THREE

Meeting one was quite the event.

http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2019/09/sep-20-19-quite-meeting-this-one.html

Meeting two was an absolute non-event.

http://aaphotoshere.blogspot.com/2019/09/sep-27-19-last-fridays-meeting-update.html

Today, Chapter Three, Meeting three.

It must be true : The third time was a charm.

Fourteen ( as in 14 count them ) members were here today. So it was a real meeting. Unfortunately there were no English speaking members so I was literally a 5th wheel. Using my smart phone's Google Translate App, I spoke a few words and handed my smart phone to a member beside me who read my words in English that were translated into Mongolian. 

After the meeting adjourned on time, several members sat in a small circle and held a real meeting-after-the-meeting that lasted well over one hour. I did not join them in their circle opting to just stay out of their way.

I had to stay because I was responsible to secure the room after we were finished and to lock the door. I'm the only one with a key to the door.

What more can I say?

Next week the regular meeting leader will have returned from a long trip out of Mongolia and I will just see what happens going forward.