I recently came across a program called
Rational Recovery. The owner of this site
sure bashes the Alcoholics Anonymous
program. The program relies on making
affirmative and positive statements and
reading them aloud as many times a day as
you can and therefore breaking the habit
of overindulgence of alcohol. According
to the owner of this site, it is not a
disease but an overindulgence, on the
alcoholics and drug addicts part. I have
no issue with this, in my case it seems
to me that it does not matter as long as
I take responsibility for my own actions
and not blame it on a disease or over-
indulgence, I blame it on what it is, I
am a drunk.
Basically what he prescribes is auto-
suggestion, which became very popular
with Napoleon Hills book ("Think and
Grow Rich") back in the 50s. I have
read the book and it is a great book and
works on anything you have a burning
desire to do. You can buy a used copy
on ebay for a couple of bucks.
Where Rational Recovery misses the boat
on the Alcoholics Anonymous program and
believe me, it is not perfect, is the fellow-
ship before and after meetings. I was new
in Gainesville, Fl and now know lots of
sober people to hang out with. The owner
of Rational Recovery on his website declares,
no more meetings, well I stayed at home,
drank, got drunk and isolated. Isolation,
is that not deadly for the alcoholic? Oh yes,
you can chat online, but really, is that not
still isolation?. I did, I drank chatted with
people I should not have been chatting
with and drank some more.
Another point is during my day when someone
irritates me, or I am rude to a stranger, give my
finger to another driver, call him or her an idiot,
then my conscience takes over and I feel bad
about it all and it's in me. I can go to a meeting
and unload it all and feel much better for
telling everyone what kind of idiot I am. You
know the Catholic Religion, about 200 million
world wide have a thing called confessional which
every Catholic has to do every year, I do not
know how many times, but I do know that they
must feel pretty good after doing it, closer
to there God, well after telling everyone about
my being an idiot on any given day makes me
feel good and closer to my Higher Power which
is also God. You don't get that with Rational
Recovery.
I include positive statements and reaffirmation's
in my program of recovery, but I still chose to
use the AA program as a way of life. It keeps
life interesting for me and most important
keeps me sober and keeps me working on
myself as a human being, I am actually a
pleasant guy to know now, so I say.
A last point, I don't know of to many
organizations that try to build a member-
ship by bashing another organization, even
a mediocre sales person knows this after
all, Rational Recovery is a business.
Author: Alden Morrison
