Episode 165: Power of the Pause – Mindfulness in Recovery
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In this episode Angela and John speak with Jackie S. about the power of pausing and meditation to bring mindfulness to our recover and how we can benefit from that…
Episode 162: What is Emotional Sobriety?
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In this episode, Angela and John talk about emotional sobriety while taking calls from listeners, and responding to comments in the YouTube chatroom. The term emotional sobriety originated from a…
Episode 161: AA History with Bob K
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This episode features a conversation with Bob K., author of Key Players in AA History. The conversation includes a discussion of AA co-founder Bill W., the first women in…
Episode 160: Take What you Want and Leave the Rest
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Angela and John talk about platitudes, slogans, and common sayings heard in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous. Are they useful? If so, which ones? Are any of them harmful or…
Episode 159: I Get By With A Little Help from My Friends
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Every Friday night at 7:00 PM Central, Angela and John live stream on the AA Beyond Belief YouTube Channel. You can participate by commenting in the live chat or…
Episode 158: Emotional Balance
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In this episode Angela, Benn, and John talk about emotional balance in the context of Step 10. This was recorded from our weekly Friday night live stream on YouTube. Bobby…
Episode 157: Sober Distancing
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This episode features a discussion about how the Covid 19 pandemic is affecting AA groups, and AA members. We talk about online meetings and other means of finding support when…
Episode 155: Jamison M. and the No Pews Required Group
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Angela B. provides an ICSAA update and talks about the One Big Tent Secular AA Conference to be held in Langley, British Columbia on May 16, 2020. Jamison M. joined…
Episode 152: Jaren C.
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Jaren recently completed an ultra marathon, a 100 mile trek, and while running his thoughts took him back to when he was twenty-five years old and went to his…
Episode 151: Tom S.
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Tom S. was the featured speaker on January 5, 2019. Originally from Alabama, Tom shared his story of addiction and recovery. After he spoke, an interesting discussion ensued on the…
Episode 148: Lisa K.
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Lisa K. spoke at the KC Secular AA Speaker Meeting on December 8, 2018. Lisa shares her experience as an adoptee and how it impacted her alcoholism and recovery…
Episode 147: Step 11 with Angela and John
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Angela and I had a nice conversation about Step 11, which in its traditional wording seems difficult for a secular person to even be interested in pursuing. However, for me…
Episode 146: Starting a Secular AA Meeting Live Stream
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John talks about starting a secular AA meeting from his own experience as well as what he has learned from others. After defining what makes an AA meeting “secular”, he…
Episode 144: Bill H.
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Bill H. has been sober in Alcoholics Anonymous for 52 years and he was our featured speaker on December 1, 2018. Bill talks about his early days getting sober in…
Episode 143: Step 10 with Angela and John
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Angela and John discuss Step 10: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. A step that many see as an effort to continue keeping…
Episode 142: Emotional Sobriety, the Next Frontier
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Archer Voxx, author of The Five Keys: 12 Step Recovery Without A God, and Alcoholics Anonymous Universal Edition spoke on the topic of emotional sobriety at the 2018 International Conference…
Episode 140: AA Beyond Belief Live Call In Show. We’ll do it live!
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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…
Episode 138: Christmas at the Paseo Group
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A few days before Christmas, I spoke at the Paseo Group’s Alkathon in Kansas City, Missouri. I wasn’t terribly prepared for my talk, but I arrived about half…
Episode 137: Secular Al-Anon Boise
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In this episode, you will meet Kim L., who helped start a secular Al-Anon meeting in Boise, Idaho. While Kim isn’t entirely uncomfortable at traditional Al-Anon meetings…
Episode 136: Are the 12 Steps Relevant?
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Are the Twelve Steps really relevant in the 21st Century, and is there any point for an atheist or agnostic to work out secular interpretations? Maybe it’s better to…
Episode 135: Steps Six and Seven with Angela and John
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Angela is back to discuss the steps from a more secular point of view, and in this episode, we take a look at steps six and seven, which in their…
Episode 134: Wes B.
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This episode features a talk by Wes B., who attends meetings at the Freethinkers and We Agnostics groups in Kansas City, Missouri. Addiction to drugs and alcohol brought Wes close…
Episode 132: International Conference of Secular AA-An Update
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In this episode, Gregg O. Chair of the Host Committee for the International Conference of Secular AA provides an update on the conference to be held from October 30 – November…
Episode 131: Step Five with Angela and John
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In this episode, Angela and I continue our discussion of the 12 steps. Today, focusing on step five, which involves sharing our story with another person. We cover a lot…
Episode 130: Dancing on a Piece of Wood
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This episode features a conversation with Douglas S. from my home group, We Agnostics Kansas City. Douglas has been skateboarding his entire life and recommended a podcast to discuss the…
Episode 129: Dave E.
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In this episode you will meet Dave E. from Toronto, Ontario. Our conversation begins with Dave sharing his personal story of recovery, the difficulty he had with interpreting the god…
Episode 128: Twelve Secular Steps
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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…
Episode 127: Benn B. at the KC Secular AA Speaker Meeting
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This episode features a talk by Benn B. from Omaha, Nebraska who visited Kansas City last summer to speak at the KC Secular AA Speaker Meeting. Benn covers a lot…
Episode 126: Step Four with Angela and John
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In this episode Angela and John discuss Step Four: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. We will continue discussing this step as we go into Step Five…
Episode 124: Step Three
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Step Three, in its original form reads as “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.” The words…
Episode 123: Joe C. at the KC Secular AA Anniversary Celebration
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This episode features a recording Joe C. speaking in Kansas City, Missouri at the anniversary celebration for the We Agnostics and Freethinkers groups. Joe is from Toronto’s Beyond Belief…
Episode 122: Step Two
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Angela and John respond to listener email and then have a conversation about Step Two. In its original form, Step Two reads, “came to believe that a Power greater than…
Episode 121: SOAAR 2019 Panel “The Practical 12 Steps”
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This episode features a panel discussion about the twelve steps that was conducted by Jeffrey Munn, author of Staying Sober Without God, and myself. It was nice to meet Jeffrey…
Episode 120: When a Man Loves a Woman
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This episode features a discussion of the 1994 film, When a Man Loves a Woman. The film starring Meg Ryan and Andy Garcia does an amazing job in depicting the…
Episode 119: The First Step
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In this episode, Angela B. and John S. discuss the first step in the recovery process, which for many of us is whatever happened that helped us escape the grip…
Episode 118: Wally K.
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This episode features Wally K from the Atheists, Agnostics, and All Others group in Boise, Idaho. Wally has been sober for 47 years, and he’s here today to share…
Bonus Episode: Secular Ontario AA Roundup
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On September 7, 2019, the Secular Ontario AA Roundup will be held at the First Unitarian Church at 170 Dundurn Street South, Hamilton, Ontario. Registration and information can be found…
Episode 117: Taking Steps
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This is the first in a series of episodes dedicated to understanding and working the Twelve Steps as an atheist, agnostic, freethinker, or anyone interested in a secular approach to…
Episode 116: The Sober She Devils
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If you would like to attend a secular AA meeting, but don’t have one in your community, there are now several online meetings listed on the Secular AA website…
Episode 115: Sugar Addiction
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Today’s episode features a conversation with Mike Collins, founder of sugaraddiction.com and Chair of the Food Addiction Institute, an organization that is making headway informing the public about…
Episode 113: An AA Beyond Belief Update
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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…
Episode 111: We Agnostics North Bay
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This episode features a conversation with Lena R. from the We Agnostics Group in North Bay, Ontario. Lena discusses her experience of working with her District to approve a request…
Episode 110: Safe Injection Comedy Fundraiser Toronto Edition
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The opioid epidemic is a crisis, it’s an emergency, and thousands of people are dying. In fact, more people have died from the opioid epidemic than the AIDS epidemic…
Episode 109: Simon P.
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For this episode, I spoke with my friend Simon P., who I met a few years ago at the We Agnostics group in Kansas City. Simon has recently started a…
Episode 107: Esprit Ouvert
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“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…
Episode 106: John S. at the Paseo Group’s Alkathon
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In this episode, I share my experience, strength, and hope at an Alkathon hosted by the Paseo AA Group in Kansas City, Missouri. I talk about what got me into…
Episode 103: Voices in Recovery
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Voices in Recovery is a new website created by Cindy from the Agnostics and Others group in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Cindy’s idea is to feature recorded talks from people…
Episode 102: Freethinkers in AA Denver
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In this episode, I will be speaking with Jeb B from the Freethinkers group in Denver, Colorado. Jeb was a guest on our podcast about a year and a half…
Episode 100: Max Brockmann
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Today I’ll be speaking with comedian Max Brockmann based out of Eugene, Oregon. Max is a person in recovery, an atheist, and I think he’s pretty funny. I…
Episode 98: Creativity in Recovery
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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…
Episode 97: Many Paths Secular AA Group In Urbana IL
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Can the 12 traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous be enforced? Can AA groups or AA members be punished for not conforming? Can special-purpose groups within Alcoholics Anonymous affiliate with each…