Topic: Death & Sobriety:  Talk about Life, Alcoholism & Dealing with Death.

Notes:

• Experts are just people that other people agree with
• We have the tendency to not talk about grief/death in our culture, while other cultures look at it as beautiful and a part of life
• When you celebrate someone’s life, they are never really gone – their energy is still with us
• Letter #25 – Death – (Attendees responded with a lot of love on this one)
• You’re never mentally prepared for anything in life – at the end of the day you just need to feel and be present
• Instead of escaping, try to embrace, you don’t have to be perfect
• Life is a gift – it’s how you choose to look at it – “Life gave me my next breath
• Ego tells you that you never have enough
• If you can make a difference in someone’s life, it’s worth living and you don’t have to drink
• Crying isn’t being weak, it’s being strong – we are taught by society that it’s weak and it’s not
• A lot of people use the excuse that “I’m an alcoholic, that’s what I do” – you can choose sobriety as quick as you choose to drink – all you need is an excuse to stay sober
• It doesn’t matter that other people can drink normally – it just doesn’t
• What we try to suppress – that’s what we get more of
• You have to build a new life philosophy – we are all living and trying to love, and it gives you empathy to others – we are products of our conditioning
• Stop basing what you do on what other people say
• Money (a bit off topic) – doesn’t really matter – “I’d rather be broke and sober than rich and drunk.”

  What To Do In The First 30 Days Of Sobriety

How to stay sober when dealing with grief tips:

• Talk about it – as stated above, we typically don’t in our culture, but holding it in will only make it worse
• Instead of feeling sorrow, celebrate the time you had with that loved one
• Be here now – not in the past, the future – be present
• Never take a day for granted
• Listen to talk, build a toolkit