The General ServiceConference A, A. has approved the publication of the book Living Sober, whichis written by A, A. This helpful brochure provides clear examples of howmembers of A.A. around the world live sober daily lives.
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This helpful bookprovides clear examples to show how A, A. members all over the world live andabstain from alcohol one day at a time. Attending gatherings where alcohol isoffered, maintaining relationships while sober, and many other themes arecovered.
He is in charge of alllegal and fiduciary affairs, has the last say in the Living Sober Conference'sannual budget, and is specifically empowered to safeguard the goals andintentions of Western Roundup Living Sober of San Francisco.
The text isessentially a summary of AA (more for those who are already sober than thosewho are just getting sober) and makes no mention of a higher power, impotence,or spirituality—aspects of AA that many find discouraging—other than in theappendices and summaries of other AA publications.
He provides helpfulguidance on how to live within the constraints of 24 hours a day in thisvolume, as opposed to merely existing. The average stay in both forms of soberliving was longer than the minimum 90-day period suggested by the NationalInstitute on Drug Abuse for the greatest benefit.
Since they frequentlyserve as transitional housing for persons who leave drug and alcohol recoveryprograms, sober houses, sometimes known as "transition centers,"shelter people with substance use problems.
The 1994 book AWoman's Way Through the Twelve Steps has become a favorite among many women inAA. Living Sober is sort of an introduction to other AA fundamentals, includingsponsorship, avoiding the first drink, and taking sobriety one day at a time,if you're interested in learning more about AA.
Homes for Sober Living(SLH), also known as sober homes and sober living environments, are placeswhere persons leaving drug rehabilitation programs can find secure housing andcontrolled, encouraging environments to live. It explains the techniques formaintaining sobriety created by AA members following the Big Book's 1939release. Although it doesn't provide a strategy for being clean, the incrediblycomprehensive book Living Sober does give us helpful guidance on how to do so.
He provides helpfuland entertaining suggestions on how to live (rather than just exist) within theconstraints of a 24-hour day in this volume. Sponsors are seasoned Fellowshipmembers who have been clean for a sizable amount of time and have implementedthe AA program's tenets in their own lives. The following activities areencouraged in every effective addiction treatment program, yet the majority ofthose with substance use problems don't attend therapy or AA meetings.
Barry Leach, an AAmember, wrote Living Sober, which AA World Services initially released in 1975.In 2012, the book had a minor update.
Regarding the largebook and the reading lamp
Leach is believed tohave consulted a large number of AA members who had maintained long-termsobriety for information for the book. It discusses techniques for maintainingsobriety created by AA members following the Big Book's 1939 release. LivingSober "does not provide a strategy for alcoholism recovery." Instead,it offers a few strategies that participants employed to "live withoutdrinking."
Without any mention ofa higher power, powerlessness, or spirituality—aspects of AA that many peoplefind off-putting—aside from the appendices and descriptions of other AApublications, the text is essentially a summary of AA (more for those who arealready sober than for those who are just getting sober). John L., a reviewer,stated that "Living Sober is expressly secular... What a contrast to theBig Book's helpless-without-God devotion!
Therefore, if you'reinterested in learning more about AA, Living Sober serves as a kind of introductionto other AA fundamentals, including sponsorship, avoiding the first drink, andtaking sobriety one day at a time. Try to look past these fundamental AApractices if they are turning you off to uncover the pearls. Additionally, youcan go to the "Big Book" or the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions ifyou wish to learn more about the classic AA practices.
There may be things inLiving Sober that you don't like or agree with. For example, it still adheresto absolutist ideas like the idea that alcoholism is an untreatable, fataldisease, even though many persons with alcohol use problems, including thosewith severe cases, disagree with this.
In addition, the bookmisrepresents what it says regarding "cross addiction," claiming thatpeople who are dependent on alcohol should "go to considerable efforts toavoid all commonly abused drugs...and even numerous over-the-countermedications and herbal supplements." (Read the article "Are YouReally at Risk for Cross Addiction?") But the book acknowledges that it isnot based on science but rather on members' firsthand knowledge. Overall, themost prolific AA researcher, John Kelly, Ph. D., of Harvard, draws the followingconclusions:
"The way that AAhas been shown to work in scientific studies is more in line with theexperiences reported by its own larger and more diverse membership as detailedin its later social, cognitive, and behaviorally oriented publications likeLiving Sober (written when AA had more than a million members, with about halfhaving at least five years of continuous sobriety) than with itsquasi-religious/spiritual "Big Book" based on the experience of fewerthan 1 million people.
In other words, it'smore appropriate for today for many people.
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