AA: Best Trends With Benefits

 I like to read books about psychology, self-help, positive thinking, and stuff like that. I'm surprised at how many of them describe the benefits of 12-step programs and peer support such as provided in Alcoholics Anonymous, even if the books aren't about sobriety.

One such book is called The Pursuit of Happiness, by David G. Meyers. I quoted from it yesterday. He says, "People most at risk for illness are those who experience a trauma, continue to think about it, but don't talk about it. As they begin to talk openly about their pain, their bodies relax and they ruminate on it less. Twelve-step programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, encourage participants to confess, rather than deny their most painful recollections, and to gain relief and support from others who have walked the same road."

I feel better after AA meetings if I have shared some thought or idea. I got it off my chest and I might have given someone a different perspective. That makes me feel happy.

 Just Say Yes to God

There was a time for me when to stop ruining your life with alcohol seemed easy: Just don't do it. Until I was part of the disease, I didn't understand that the brains of alcoholics are different. Just saying no didn't work -- not without a higher power.

"Years ago, the First Lady of the United States challenged the youth of America to 'Just Say No' to drugs as she warned them of the dangers of drug use. When I first heard the expression, I thought, 'Does she really believe that this is all it's going to take to solve our drug problem?' However, in thinking about it further, I realized that this is the same kind of strategy the Church has used for years to try to keep people from sinning. We've told them to 'Just Say No' to illicit sex or alcohol or some other vice. But just saying no alone doesn't work. There must be something more appealing to which a person can say yes. A person must experience something that will offer him a greater pleasure than the allurements of sin....

'Drugs, alcohol, and other worldly pleasures are just demonic counterfeits for what people could experience in God's presence.... Ultimately, the only thing that will liberate the human heart from the slavery of sin is the supreme satisfaction found in God." (Enjoying God by S. J. Hill, https://www.sjhillonline.com/)

I take exception to the author referring to drinking as a sin and demonic. But I do agree that devotion to God is a necessary alternative to drinking. The need for God in our lives is made clear in AA's Twelve Steps:

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.