Reddit reviews The Alternative 12 Steps: A Secular Guide To Recovery
We found 6 Reddit comments about The Alternative 12 Steps: A Secular Guide To Recovery. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
I bought the book. Looks like it will be a good read. I also bought this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0991717465/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I bought this book and it really helped me understand the steps better.
Regarding your religious issues:
And those were just the first 2 things to pop up after searching "secular 12 step recovery" on google, you could probably find more stuff
Also, cgkid on YouTube seems to have a following and talks a lot about his experiences with recovering from Meth addiction and other drugs. your stories are different but, maybe it's a start.
And np man glad to help
I think that you are mixing up "God" and "higher power".
There are many atheist and agnostics that have changed the steps to remove God and stick with a higher power or similar.
Why does this matter?
Because we can't have a rational, secular God. That's a contradiction in terms but we can have a rational, secular higher power. A higher power can be religious but it doesn't have to be.
We all have things which are more powerful than us, that we place our trust in.
For instance, if I'm seriously ill and rushed to hospital, I have to trust and give power over my medical treatment to the medical profession. That's a higher power. Something more powerful than me, that I need to put my trust in.
That's not to say I can't question the higher power or take back control over my medical treatment later if I wish.
It's the same with a higher power in AA. It can be something rational and secular. It just needs to be something I trust will help me in my recovery, just for today.
It is acknowleging that after years of crazy alcoholic thinking, "I'll stop tomorrow", "I'd be OK, if everyone got off my case", "The doctors are mad, it's not going to kill me" etc etc, that I need help, to get back to a sane way of thinking. I need to do the work myself, but I need some help and direction that I can trust in.
By the way, u/m1321963009 if you are studing AA literature, which is mainly from the 1930-50s, then it is worth looking at some up-to-date literature.
If you are studying higher powers and God, there is "The God Word" and its history. There are useful articles in the official AA magazine Grapevine. They have a seven day trial. See the Oct 2016 and Apr 2011 issues. Also, here. This book has many different takes on what is a higher power and how it can fit in, among other stuff.
Check out http://aaagnostica.org
My home group is an atheist, agnostic and all others meeting. Maybe there's one in your area. I've met a lot of atheists and agnostics who have long-term sobriety.
Edit: These books have been very helpful, too:
The Alternative 12 Steps: A Secular Guide To Recovery https://www.amazon.com/dp/0991717465/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_CASZxbMEEPTBT
and
Beyond Belief: Agnostic Musings for 12 Step Life: finally, a daily reflection book for nonbelievers, freethinkers and everyone https://www.amazon.com/dp/0988115700/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_2BSZxbWN3C3RQ
I'm struggling with the idea of AA myself for the very same reason, but every therapist or life coach I talked to gently recommended AA regardless. I finally went to a meeting and it clicked WHY that type of system works. The sense of community is important, along with simply knowing that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Even without the spiritual aspect of it, the things the women said really resonated with me (I chose a women-only meeting to start with, at the recommendation of my therapist).
I'm still at the beginning of my journey and working every day at it. I need to reset my number again, but am gradually building up an arsenal of tools to help me stick with it for longer - I'm beginning to believe that AA will be the lynchpin if I can approach the twelve-step program from an atheist's point of view.
In that effort, I visited AAAgnostica.org and read a bit about them, and then also picked up the following books and have been working my way through them:
I am not affiliated with the authors. I just desperately needed some material of my own that aligned with all the twelve step information I was learning, but that let me approach it without all the "god stuff".
At the very least, try the first book. See if the steps as written without the inclusion of religion and god start to make sense to you. Note that the concept of "spirituality" is still present but not in the sense of following a religion or believing in a god. In my case, the thing that clicked the most for me was a creative visualization tool I learned while doing a meditation (completely unrelated to AA). Meditation is a somewhat "spiritual" practice, but for me, the power comes from within and makes itself known through my deeper understanding of myself. This is just one of many tools I am leveraging to help me stay sober on the days when it is particularly hard.
There's a reason the program works, so it made sense for me to try my damnedest to make it work for ME. Maybe it won't work for you, but consider just reading the steps and then decide.
Step Two is going to be harder for me because I'm a bit of a hermit and social interaction with new groups can be so damn hard, but the meeting I went to didn't dwell on god much at all - the only real mention was when we said the Lord's Prayer at the end, but I hear that not all meetings do that. Simply going to the meeting helped me understand why Step Two is important. Traditionally, that step sounds like you need to give up responsibility for your life to a higher power. Just for example, one of the alternative steps states something slightly different.
It isn't "God" or any spiritual power to ME that makes that step important. It's simply looking outside yourself for help. Going to the meeting made that click. The very act of taking that step - seeking out a community of others for support - the power beyond myself is the wisdom of communities like that, or communities like THIS one, too. For many, the community is where the power lies if we can acknowledge that. For others that may not be the case, but the point is to find something that provides you with that power, regardless of what you believe or don't believe.
Is it private, personal meditation, or getting together with people who share your struggles and simply leaning on them for support? Is it a combination?
Now my challenge is to quit making excuses and start going to regular meetings. There are at least a half dozen going on in my town on any given day. This is the path I feel I need to take.
I hope you are able to find yours and that you find the strength to keep at it. Good luck to you!