Recovery/Addiction
Feelings, people, or situations that cause the brain to want to use substances. If you're not aware of them, they can cause you to relapse.
Triggers
What are/were your triggers
3 of the twelve spiritual principles of AA.
Acceptance
Hope
Faith
Courage
Honesty
Patience
Humility
Willingness
Brotherly Love
Integrity
Self-Discipline
Service
Pick one that is significant to you and explain why!
Structure in the brain that plays a crucial role in processing emotions, particularly fear, and is integral to the limbic system
Amygdala.
To engage in mental exercise (such as concentration on one's breathing or repetition of a mantra) for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness.
Meditation/Meditating
Provide 4 "styles" of mediation.
Manipulation involving exploiting interactions between two people who are not communicating directly.
Triangulation
Ask someone in the audience if they'd ever used this tactic in their addiction or recovery.
This state of mind can be fatal for recovery! It's characterized by being too comfortable or not feeling motivated to continue doing the work.
Complacency
Have you ever been complacent? If so, what contributed to the complacency?
Amends
Share an experience you've had with working step nine.
A hormone that serves numerous functions within the body though is widely associated with the stress response.
Has there been anything that causing you stress in life lately? How have you been coping with this stress?
A practice pertaining to spirituality/religion that can be utilized daily. Address a solemn request or expression of thanks to a higher power.
Prayer
Personal limits that individuals set for themselves to protect their well-being, values, and sense of self within a relationship.
Boundaries.
What is a boundary you've set within recovery.
*Ask two group members this question.
An example could be that I'm changing for my children, partner, because of legal issues, etc..
External motivation.
Did you or do you have external motivators? If so, what were/are they? What internally motivates you?
12 Traditions:
Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole
Tradition 4.
*In your own words, what does this mean?
Refusing to accept reality or acknowledge the existence of a situation or feeling.
Denial
Planner/To-do List/Organizer.
Collection of information that is an aid to your daily life.
Do you keep a planner? Why or why not?
A common role within a codependent relationship. The person who is more so the giver in the relationship and wants to help the other person.
Caretaker/Savior/Hero
This is a process and has 3 stages!
RELAPSE. Emotional, Mental, and Physical.
Share with the group what your last relapse looked like and what lessons you've learned.
Passage of Big Book:
"Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program,"
Chapter 5, How it Works, page 58.
Read the first full paragraph.
What has been a barrier for yourself in fully engaging in recovery?
Channeling of one's emotions or urges into something more useful or safe, such as a person leaning into sports as a way to release stress and aggression.
Sublimation
Have you used this defense mechanism. If yes elaborate.
Getting professional support from a neutral person who can help with mental health and addiction concerns
Therapy/Counseling
Ability to directly state your feelings and needs in a respectful manner.
Assertive/Effective Communication
Give an example of when you've used this communication.
What unhealthy communication style did you resort to in the past most frequently.
Who is someone you struggle communicating with currently and why?
Physical and psychological response that occurs when a person reduces or stops using a substance.
Withdrawal.
What symptoms have you experienced?
Reflective process where individuals examine their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to identify patterns that may hinder their recovery.
Moral inventory.
What was something you learned about yourself during this process? Ask one of your opponents this question.
avoid uncomfortable emotions by focusing on abstract thoughts, concepts, or theories. This allows them to distance themselves from the emotional impact of a situation and engage in detached analysis.
Intellectualizing
Have you ever used this defense mechanism?
This written method of coping can help an individual process and reflect on themselves and their recovery.
Journaling
Do you journal? Why or why not? Do you follow a format?
Ask this openly to the group and pick someone who raises their hand.
Freedom from pride or arrogance.
Humility.
Is this important within your recovery and why?