One of the many reasons that I relocated to my neighborhood in West Los Angeles is the Westside Hope Center. You can find me there almost every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the 12:30 pm Narcotics Anonymous meeting. This year the WHC is celebrating is celebrating 75 years of continuous operation.
The Westside Hope Center reduces my carbon footprint
As every real estate salesman knows the first rule in the selection of your residence is location, location, location. The Westside Hope Center is located 1.7 miles from my apartment. I have a Friday routine where I drive 1 mile from my apartment to Unity of the Westside for 11:00 am meditation. Then I travel .3 miles to the Culver City Senior Center for lunch. After lunch I drive 1.3 miles to the WHC. Then I drive a mere 1.7 miles back home to my apartment.
I got sober in Primetime AA but I no longer want to drive long distances to Primetime. Primetime in-person meetings are at night. I no longer like to drive at night. So my three 12 Step meetings per week at the WHC reduces my carbon footprint. Convenience, convenience, convenience.
My sponsor is the gentleman on the left wearing bib overalls.
Sponsorship
Even though I have over twenty years of sobriety, you have to have a sponsor to fit in to any 12 Step program of recovery. If you do not have a sponsor no one will take you seriously at meetings. You will often be judged as incompetent or inferior without a sponsor. The real duty of a sponsor should be to demonstrate God consciousness. If I am a recovering from alcoholism, what exactly does that mean to me. It means that I am recovering my soul. I am recovering my higher consciousness. Recovery means that I am recovering my relationship with the God that was always within. I have awakened to the kingdom of heaven within. For me recovery means demonstrating perfect love and forgiveness.
Meeting Schedule
Here is the current meeting schedule for the Westside Hope Center. The very first meeting I went to was the Sunday morning 10:00 am gratitude meeting. Now on Sunday mornings you can find me at Unity of the Westside where I am a new member.
PRINCIPLES IN DEMONSTRATION:
Primetime AA and Principles in Application AA
At one time my cohort Randy M. had a Primetime AA influenced meeting called Principles in Application in the back room of the Hope Center. Now Randy only has his meetings via Zoom. Anyone can start a Zoom meeting. I have all of the Zoom time I need. Zoom has a vital function. I use Zoom for my weekly meetings with my clinical psychologist therapy sessions. My therapist is located at the Masonic Home in Covina where I used to reside. It would be impractical to commute an hour and a half to Covina for a fifty minute therapy session. My therapist even conducts eye movement desensitizing reprocessing (EMDR) via our Zoom sessions. So I love Zoom however I have more than enough screen time in my life. Living in the big city I am fortunate to have many options for in-person gatherings.
Randy calls his meetings Principles in Action. PIA is based upon Bob Anderson’s Primetime AA. In Primetime there are no drunkalogues. No stories about drinking histories. When I share in the WHC Narcotics Anonymous meetings I follow this rule. I even talk about the fact that there are no war stories in Primetime. I only briefly touch upon my current medical treatment for my heart condition. I try to demonstrate God in my NA meetings at the WHC.
Recovering my separation from God
If I am a recovering addict, exactly what am I recovering? I am recovering my very soul. Recovering my higher consciousness, recovering my delusion that I am separate from God. I am recovering the God that is within me. However it can be dangerous to tell the addict that he is in fact God. Milk for the babes and meat for those who are ready for it.
