Podcasts about aa beyond belief

Happy New Year, friends. I want to begin the year by writing to you about AA Beyond Belief. These last five years have gone by so fast. It’s been like a dream. I never imagined that I would ever have such an experience, but it’s been an incredible ride, and I am honored to have […]

Happy New Year, friends. I want to begin the year by writing to you about AA Beyond Belief. These last five years have gone by so fast. It’s been like a dream. I never imagined that I would ever have such an experience, but it’s been an incredible ride, and I am honored to have […]

This short episode is to wish you a happy New Year, thank you for your support, and to update you on what’s new for the website and podcast in 2021. Happy New Year, friends. I want to begin the year by writing to you about AA Beyond Belief. These last five years have gone by […]

Marty B. is a recovering alcoholic and a retired airline pilot. He got sober in AA and after his first year of sobriety, another pilot introduced him to Birds of a Feather, a worldwide network of AA meetings established for airline pilots and cockpit crewmembers. In this episode, Marty describes the unique needs of pilots in recovery and how Birds of a Feather offers a helping hand.  The post Episode 201: Birds of a Feather first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

In this episode, we meet Andy F., an agnostic who got sober in AA and is now writing a book about his experience as an agnostic working the Twelve Steps  The post Episode 200: Twelve Steps for Agnostics first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

Welcome to today’s show!   WHAT WE’LL LEARN:   How John’s early view of religion helped shape his identity in the world Why did John ultimately decide to conform to religious beliefs even though his family had decided religion was not a part of their worldview How John’s traumatic experience (and how he absorbed that experience) led to his accelerated drinking  How after 25 years in AA, John came to the conclusion that he was an Atheist Why John rejects the concept of a higher power and how this led to a fracture with his home group What informed John’s decision to start the AA Beyond Belief community John talks about how he has changed as a person from the beginning of the podcast until now What would John write on a billboard for all to see RESOURCES MENTIONED   aabeyondbelief-Facebook  aabeyondbelief-YouTube Aabeyonbelief.org atheistsinrecovery.com/audible       For more info, head over to atheistsinrecovery.com and subscribe to our email list. And thank you for listening!   Leave an honest review on ITUNES.  Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the A.I.R. newsletter where you will learn to identify patterns of dysfunctional thinking, change the dysfunctional thinking into something more positive, and find hope in recovery. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please share it with friends, family, and other professionals by using the social media buttons on this page.

Glenn S. is a recovering alcoholic, a Richard Dawkins atheist who helped found three humanist AA meetings in New York City, and an artist who for twenty-five years brought a sketchbook to meetings that he used to take notes and sketch the people around him. The sketchbook helped him listen during meetings and resulted in a wonderful book that he titled Twenty-Five Years of Listening. This episode is the story of how the book came to be. The post Episode 199: Twenty-Five Years of Listening first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

Luke Worsfold is an entrepreneur who fell into addiction as he began to equate his self-worth with his net worth. Quickly, his addiction spun out of control and he lost everything. In this episode, Luke tells the story of his recovery and how his podcast Lisa Inside Addiction inspired him to become an addictions counselor. The post Episode 198: Inside Addiction with Luke Worsfold first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

In this episode, we meet David Whitesock,  who shares his story of addiction and recovery, and how his journey eventually led him to develop the Recovery Capital Index, a useful tool for measuring recovery capital. The post Episode 197: Measuring Recovery Capital first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

About a year ago, we posted Episode 137 about a secular Al-Anon group that started meeting in Boise, Idaho. That episode featured a conversation with one of the group's co-founders, Kim L., who talked about the challenges with starting the meeting. In this episode, the group's other co-founder, Chia provided an update on how the group has been fairing and how COVID has actually helped their group grow.    The post Episode 196: Secular Al-Anon Boise: An Update first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

Listening is perhaps the most valuable gift we can give to another person, and it is a great strength of AA. People don't necessarily need to have others solve their problems, but from being heard people can learn to face and resolve their own challenges. This episode is all about the importance of listening when helping people we sponsor, or a new person at a meeting. This was a live stream and we responded to comments from listeners in the live chat on YouTube and Facebook.  The post Episode 195: Listening first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

In this episode, I speak with Mikey J. from the Our Mostly Agnostic Group of Drunks (OMAGOD) located in Orlando, Florida, and now meeting online every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7:00 pm Eastern. Mikey takes us through the history of the group and what they learned about hosting online AA meetings.  The post Episode 194: OMAGOD Online Secular AA Meeting first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

In this episode, John Huey talks about his thoughts on COVID and alcoholism, and what the two have in common. He thinks back on friends who didn't survive their drinking and realizes that we don't think often enough about those who don't make it. You can read more in John's essay,  A Journal of the Plague Year.  The post Episode 193: The Plague Year first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

John and Angela celebrate the fifth anniversary of AA Beyond Belief by taking a look back at when and how it all started.   The post Episode 192: AA Beyond Belief at Five Years first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

Has COVID brought in a new era for Alcoholics Anonymous, or is it our responsibility to help bring one about? As meetings moved from church basements to Zoom, we are now hearing more diverse experiences from a greater number of people, as well as new ideas about the Steps or recovery in general. Maybe sharing our experience as secular AA members is making more of a difference now?  The post Episode 191: A New Era for AA? first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

In this episode, Angela and John have a discussion about making decisions and how they learned to make better decisions in recovery. Angela talked about how attending meetings and working the Steps helped her learn to become more mindful and less reactive, and John talked about the difficult decisions he had to make early in sobriety. This was recorded from our Friday night live stream and featured comments from YouTube and Facebook, as well as from listener phone calls.  The post Episode 190: Decisions first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

Our guest for this episode is Sarah Elizabeth from the Sober Gratitudes podcast. Now, I’ll tell you, this isn’t a typical episode for AA Beyond Belief, because Sarah doesn’t identify as either an atheist or agnostic. In Fact, she describes her experience as spiritual, and she attributes her sobriety to a higher power, which she identifies as the God of her understanding. Now, that being said, this is truly an amazing person you’re about to meet. She has an inspiring story, and she is my friend and also a friend of AA Beyond Belief. The post Episode 189: Sober Gratitudes with Sarah Elizabeth first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

Angela and I have a free-flowing conversation covering a variety of topics ranging from our memories and thoughts about or first AA meeting to whether AA Word Services should publish a new book that covers the program of recovery. We take a call from Fred in Virginia and respond to comments on Facebook and YouTube.  The post Episode 188: Something Light and Easy first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

Angela and I talk about friendships and how they were impacted by our drinking and what we learned from our friends in sobriety. When I got sober, I didn't have any friends left from my drinking days, but Angela continued to maintain those relationships after she got sober. This was recorded from our Friday live stream. We had one caller and several comments from the YouTube and Facebook chat.  The post Episode 187: Friendships in Sobriety first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

Angela and I take questions from callers and the live chat on Facebook and YouTube, and then we ask each other a few questions. There is an interesting discussion about the importance of self-care, and the need for AA to modernize. The post Episode 186: Our Question and Answer Episode first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

Angela and I have a conversation with Dale K. about the " We Agnostics" chapter in Big Book. Dale wrote a secular version of the first 164 pages in the Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous, and in this episode, he explains why.  The post Episode 185: Talking About We Agnostics with Dale K. first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

In this episode, Angela and I are joined by Bri, a friend from my homegroup, to discuss relationships. We take a look at the issues we faced with relationships while we were drinking, as well as in recovery. Bri goes into detail about some of her early experiences, and Angela talks about the developmental theory of relationships and how that is problematic for people in recovery.  The post Episode 184: Relationships in Sobriety first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

In this episode, Joe C. from Rebellion Dogs Radio joins Angela and John for a brief overview of the history of secular AA groups. This episode was recorded live on YouTube and Facebook on July 10, 2020. We live stream every Friday night at 7:00 pm on the AA Beyond Belief YouTube Channel, public Facebook page, and our private Facebook group. Come join us!  The post Episode 183: A Brief History of Secular AA first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

This episode was recorded from a live stream originally posted on July 3, 2020, on YouTube and Facebook. Angela and I talk about the role that music played in our lives both while drinking and now as sober people. This was a free-flowing conversation that went into other topics.  The post Episode 182: Music in Recovery first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

Mark K. knows he needs more than AA to stay sober. Before attending his first AA meeting, he was receiving professional help from a therapist who he continues to see to this day, and who encourages him to remain open to any activity or resource that supports his recovery. Mark fully embraces this approach, and in this episode, he walks us through his journey, describing the tools and resources that helped him stay sober since May 16, 2013. The post Episode 181: Mark K.'s Many Paths to Sobriety first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

This episode features a conversation about the 12 Steps with John C. from Berkeley, California. We talk about how there is often exaggerated importance placed on them. The Steps, which are primarily experiential become an academic exercise for many. Some AA members will talk about finishing Steps, but some don't have a defined beginning and end. How do you finish Step One for example? It's an interesting conversation that I think you will enjoy. The audio quality is strained in spots, but it worth working through that to hear the entire conversation.  The post Episode 180: About those Steps - A Conversation with John C. first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

In this episode, I speak with David S., a stand-up comedian in the Kanas City area who has been sober for thirty-seven years at the time of this recording. We talk about his recovery, the challenges of being a secular person in AA, his thoughts about agnostic AA meetings, and how he got involved with performing comedy. The post Episode 179: David S. first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

In this episode Angela and I talk about Tradition Three: The only requirement for AA membership is a desire to stop drinking."  We review the history of the tradition taken from a talk by Barry L., author of Living Sober, that he gave at the 1985 International AA Convention in Montreal. This is followed with a discussion about how we experience the tradition today. This was recorded Live on YouTube on June 26, 2020. Every Friday, we have a live call in show on YouTube and Facbook. In this episode, sound quality from the caller is not very good and is difficult to make out. Otherwise, this was a fun episode and I thin you will enjoy listening.  The post Episode 178: Tradition Three - The Only Requirement first appeared on AA Beyond Belief.

Welcome to today’s show!   WHAT WE’LL LEARN:   How John’s early view of religion helped shape his identity in the world Why did John ultimately decide to conform to religious beliefs even though his family had decided religion was not a part of their worldview How John’s traumatic experience (and how he absorbed that experience) led to his accelerated drinking  How after 25 years in AA, John came to the conclusion that he was an Atheist Why John rejects the concept of a higher power and how this led to a fracture with his home group What informed John’s decision to start the AA Beyond Belief community John talks about how he has changed as a person from the beginning of the podcast until now What would John write on a billboard for all to see RESOURCES MENTIONED   aabeyondbelief-Facebook  aabeyondbelief-YouTube Aabeyonbelief.org   For more info, head over to atheistsinrecovery.com and subscribe to our email list. And thank you for listening!   Leave an honest review on ITUNES.  Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.   Subscribe to the A.I.R. newsletter where you will learn to identify patterns of dysfunctional thinking, change the dysfunctional thinking into something more positive, and find hope in recovery.

On Wednesday, January 1, 2020, at 7:00 pm Central Time, the AA Beyond Belief Podcast will be posted as a live stream on our YouTube Channel, our public Facebook page, and our Private Facebook group. This will be a live call-in show where you can participate by calling in to our toll-free number 844-899-8278.

Dylan and Angela discuss growing up with childhood trauma, eating disorders, losing religion and the challenges atheists face in active recovery.AA Beyond Belief podcast: https://aabeyondbelief.org/podcast-2/Support Fun in Sobriety by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/fun-in-sobrietyFind out more at https://fun-in-sobriety.pinecast.coSend us your feedback online: https://pinecast.com/feedback/fun-in-sobriety/ab78baea-e34c-494c-90c9-d71d492f3f9a

This episode features a talk by Bill W., author of Twelve Secular Steps: An Addiction Recovery Guide. Bill's book is an excellent resource for anyone who is interested in a secular interpretation of the Twelve Steps, but I think it is particularly useful for someone who is just beginning their recovery journey. This is a rebroadcast of the KC Secular AA Speaker Meeting podcast. That meeting and podcast is now defunct, so I thought it would be nice if we could post those episodes at AA Beyond Belief interspersed with our new episodes.

In this episode, I talk about my experience at AA Beyond Belief, both the podcast and website. I discuss the challenges and rewards that come from doing this work, and what you can do to get involved to help. 

Series 2, Episode 3: In this episode we catch up to the first meeting of AA in the gatehouse of the Seiberling Estate in Akron, Ohio. This episode will mark the end of the history “lesson” at least for now. If I’ve made mistakes please don’t hesitate to let me know. Thanks for listening. AA Beyond Belief: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/aa-beyond-belief/id1039643427?mt=2&i=1000426369801

"Esprit Ouvert" translates from French to English as "Open-mindedness", and it's the name of a new secular AA group that meets in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec every Friday night at 8:00 pm. In this episode, Ernest B. and William B. talk about what motivated them to start the group, the challenges they faced, and how their group approaches the AA program from a totally secular perspective. The group has rewritten "How it Works", as well as the Steps and Traditions. Those documents are available for download in pdf form here, and will also appear in their own individual post at AA Beyond Belief. 

Series 1, Bonus: A short piece I wrote for AA Beyond Belief. The most important part of which, I think, is that when I was successful in sobriety “I wasn’t trying to shed my old skin, instead I was trying to heal it. There are parts of this skin—this self—that were worth holding onto. There were things that were inherently good that needed to be enhanced not erased.” Your can read this and so much more at aabeyondbelief.org. Hope it helps! xox

Episode 60 Leave us a message @ https://www.speakpipe.com/SoberSpeak Email us @ feedback@soberspeak.com Visit our website @ www.soberspeak.com Text the word "sober" to 31996   This link is to John S's version of "How It Works" http://weagnosticsaa.org/how-it-works-2-0/   This link is to John S.'s version of "We Agnostics" http://weagnosticsaa.org/atheist-big-book-study-we-agnostics-as-it-could-have-been-written/   This link is a short primer on  how John S approaches the program today: http://secularaakansascity.org/a-primer-for-a-secular-aa-program/   This link is to AA Beyond Belief: https://aabeyondbelief.org/   This link is to AA Agnostica. The person who created this site is a good friend of John S's who encouraged him to start AA Beyond Belief: https://aabeyondbelief.org/   This is a link to a listing of secular AA meetings from all over the world: https://secularaa.org/tsml_meeting/

Series 1, Bonus: This is the beginning of an interview by John S. from AA Beyond Belief the Podcast. He asked me to speak with him last week after hearing my talk on YouTube from The Wilson House a few years ago. We had a fantastic conversation! You can listen to the whole interview on the website aabeyondbelief.org or in iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/aa-beyond-belief/id1039643427?mt=2

It's often noted that Alcoholics Anonymous sounds like a religious movement, with its appeal to a 'Higher Power'. But Joe C. is the founder of a group called AA Beyond Belief, which he says exists to provide a space for AA agnostics, atheists and freethinkers worldwide.Bart Campolo has wanted to have a conversation with a secular person deep in the AA world for a long time, and Joe C. is that person! Many people have been helped and find their community in groups like his, and Bart wanted to explore how it looks for Joe, people in recovery and those in his group in particular.Find AA Beyond Belief at AABeyondBelief.org. See also SecularAA.org and follow Joe at Twitter.com/Rebellion_Dogs.—Got a question for Bart to answer in a future show? Call the ‘Q Line’ at (424) 291-2092.Enjoy the podcast? Support it at Patreon.com/HumanizeMe and get extra content for it! Please review us on iTunes (it really helps). And join 700 other listeners on the show’s Facebook Group.

A few months ago, I read a poem that was posted on our Facebook group, written by Robert B from Madison, Wisconsin. In his post, Robert mentioned that at the encouragement of his sponsor, he began to write poetry, which he’s been doing daily since he’s been sober. Since that time, he’s amassed some 4,000 poems. Intrigued, I contacted him to ask if he would like to post his poetry at AA Beyond Belief. That interaction resulted in this podcast.

Today, I'll be speaking with Tomas L., from Gothenburg, Sweden. I met Tomas in the secret Facebook group for AA Beyond Belief. One day, we were all posting comments about the use of the Lord's Prayer in AA meetings and Tomas posted something that I found really funny and clever, so I thought that I would have him on a podcast. That interaction from several months ago resulted in this conversation between Tomas and I.

life-j is a friend of both AA Beyond Belief and AA Agnostica. He has written several articles for both sites, and was also published in the AA Grapevine. In this podcast life-j shares his story, and we'll talk about his article on the Sinclair Method, his thoughts on recovery, his thoughts about AA, present and future, what he thinks about secular AA, the use and limitation of technology, and a need for improved networking among secular AAs.

Parallel Universes: The Story of Rebirth is a new book, a recovery memoir written by David B. Bohl. Today, AA Agnostica published a review of the book written by Thomas B. while here at AA Beyond Belief, we are posting a podcast featuring a conversation with David. I won't go into a lot of detail here about the book, you can read about that at AA Agnostica. Instead, I will introduce the podcast with a few words about David, and my thoughts after reading the book and then speaking with the author. 

In this episode of AA Beyond Belief the Podcast, I spoke with Serge Prengel, author of The Proactive Twelve Steps for Mindful Recovery. Serge is a therapist and life coach with a practice in New York City who became interested in the 12 Steps as a process for change and growth.

In today's episode of AA Beyond Belief the Podcast, we meet Garth R., a co-founder of the We Agnostics Group in Johannesburg, South Africa. The group started up in March of this year, and meets every Wednesday night at 7:30. Our conversation centers on what led him to help start a new secular AA meeting, and how things are progressing.

This episode of AA Beyond Belief the Podcast features an interview with William Porter, author of Alcohol Explained. William lives in London, England with his wife and two young children. He is currently a lawyer and previously served with the 4th (Volunteer) Battalion of the Parachute Regiment. I found the book Alcohol Explained to be an interesting examination of alcohol addiction, and I believe the book would be helpful to anyone who may be coming to grips with a drinking problem or has a friend or loved one struggling with alcohol addiction.

In this week's episode of AA Beyond Belief the Podcast, I speak with Courtney S., the webmaster for Secular AA, a new service organization created by the Board of Directors of ICSAA that consolidates the functions previously performed by WAAFT Central, Agnostic AA NYC, and WAAFT IAAC.

In this week’s episode of AA Beyond Belief the Podcast, I speak with Courtney S., the webmaster for Secular AA, a new service organization created by the Board of Directors of ICSAA that consolidates the functions previously performed by WAAFT Central, Agnostic AA NYC, and WAAFT IAAC.  Secular AA now maintains the worldwide agnostic AA meeting […]

In this episode of AA Beyond Belief the Podcast, I speak with a new friend Dale K. Dale recently wrote a book that will help people understand the AA program of recovery as outlined in the Big Book, but from a secular perspective. I’m looking forward to this being published, which will hopefully be sometime […]

For this episode of AA Beyond Belief the Podcast, I was interviewed by my co-host, Benn B., and thanks to his excellent interviewing skills; I shared my story in perhaps more detail than ever before. This was a valuable exercise that left me with a renewed sense of gratitude for Alcoholics Anonymous and particularly thankful […]

In this episode, I speak with Len R., from Jasper, Georgia. I first became acquainted with Len shortly before the International Secular AA Convention that was held in Austin last November. Len wrote to ask if he could help out at AA Beyond Belief by recording audio versions of the stories that have been published […]

In this episode, I speak with Len R., from Jasper, Georgia. I first became acquainted with Len shortly before the International Secular AA Convention that was held in Austin last November. Len wrote to ask if he could help out at AA Beyond Belief by recording audio versions of the stories that have been published on the site. He told me that he has a good radio voice and the skills needed to do the job.

This podcast episode was recorded shortly after returning from the We Agnostics, Atheists and Freethinkers International AA Convention that was held in Austin, Texas from November 11-13th. Included in the discussion is Benn B., from Lincoln, Nebraska and my co-host on AA Beyond Belief, Vic L., from New York, New York and a past board member of WAAFT IAAC, and Willow F. from Seattle, Washington. In the podcast we have a conversation about our experiences and observations while attending the convention. Included with the podcast, is an article by Vic, "Some Observations from Austin", and an article that I wrote "Thinking About Austin".

This podcast episode was recorded shortly after returning from the We Agnostics, Atheists and Freethinkers International AA Convention that was held in Austin, Texas from November 11-13th. Included in the discussion is Benn B., from Lincoln, Nebraska and my co-host on AA Beyond Belief, Vic L., from New York, New York and a past board […]

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure to start my day with a cup of coffee and a chat with an AA friend, Cope C. from the Many Paths group in Urbana, Illinois. Cope does a lot of work here at AA Beyond Belief, helping with design and many of the images that we use in the articles that have been published here.

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure to start my day with a cup of coffee and a chat with an AA friend, Cope C. from the Many Paths group in Urbana, Illinois. Cope does a lot of work here at AA Beyond Belief, helping with design and many of the images that we use […]

This podcast was produced by Joe C from Rebellion Dogs Radio and we are honored to republish it here. In this episode of Rebellion Dogs Radio, Joe interviews our friend Bob K, author of Key Players in AA History and numerous articles on AA Agnostica and AA Beyond Belief. I think you will enjoy their conversation […]

This podcast was produced by Joe C from Rebellion Dogs Radio and we are honored to republish it here on this site. In this episode of Rebellion Dogs Radio, Joe interviews our friend Bob K, author of Key Players in AA History and numerous articles on AA Agnostica and AA Beyond Belief.

Steve Bergier, a certified SMART Recovery Facilitator in Orange County, California was kind enough to not only submit a story to AA Beyond Belief, but also to spend his Sunday morning having a conversation with me about his experience with SMART Recovery. Steve isn’t an official spokesperson for SMART Recovery, so his comments during the podcast and his essay are […]

Steve Bergier, a certified SMART Recovery Facilitator in Orange County, California was kind enough to not only submit a story to AA Beyond Belief, but also to spend his Sunday morning having a conversation with me about his experience with SMART Recovery.

In this episode we take a look back at the great work of Roger C. at AA Agnostica and talk about the future of AA Beyond Belief.

In this episode we take a look back at the great work of Roger C. at AA Agnostica and talk about the future of AA Beyond Belief.