Jay S. from Sedona, AZ, Bill C. from Torrance, CA and Matthew M. from Long Beach, CA doing meditation at a workshop called Kitchen Table AA in New Orleans, LA

Let's

just come into the room by just

doing that. Little is everybody. Patrick, were you here yesterday morning? OK, so one of the things I, I, I I found to be very, very helpful

is especially when I'm, I'm coming into a room to meditate with folks or by myself, folks being, you know, three or four personalities, get them all together. One of the ways that I found to do that is to just drop my chin to my chest

four times

slowly.

Just let that those neck muscles stretch a little bit

and then to take my left ear

and touch to my left shoulder

four times

and then drop my head back

four times

and then to take my right ear and drop it to my right shoulder.

And then the next exercise is take my chin and point it towards the left wall

to do that four times

and then do the same thing to the right.

And then the final set is to drop your chin and then

roll your head to the left.

Make it circle around your shoulders.

Bring it back

and do that four times

and then finally do it to the right.

Thank you.

So I

this is

meditation method that was

taught to me by my Oxford group mentor man by the name of Willard Hunter.

Willard passed about four years ago and when he was at he first got

touched by the with the Oxford Group. They had everything in Alcoholics Anonymous

just about. We stole from the Oxford Group

4 minutes of our meetings formats over conventions

where we sponsor people, the steps.

You know, there was a 12, not 112 that they had four spiritual exercises that they did and and

and then I became a member

like a lot of people that

there's a book called

For Sinners Only

Oxford group had great titles books for centers only. I was a Pagan life began yesterday. Ideas have legs kinds of great stuff. And anyway, Willard. Willard was a freshman in university and he ran across the OG. The OG

was given a

a talk and he ended up going and the ideas appealed to him

in the group. They they say, when did you meet the group? And that's their anniversary. And and at their meetings they would get up and say today's the day. You don't want the 27th of March in 2016. I met the group anyway, you know,

excited about that.

I've got a I've got a book

with a bunch of the the old guard and their their names and their dates that they, you know, it's like getting somebody's variety date when they signed your book.

That's really sweet. Anyway, this was the method

that Bill and Bob were taught in the Oxford Group meetings about how to meditate.

Now if you really want to know the secret about how they would learn to meditate pretty much is in

Page 86 to 88 in the Big Book

because they weren't reinventing the wheel, you know. I mean, Bill gets out. He has his experience at Towns Hospital and where does he run? He runs to where his sponsor was going to meetings. The sponsor was going to three Oxford Group meetings a week at Calvary Church. And so he was going to meetings. He and Lois went to three Oxford Group meetings for about 3 years until they got kicked out.

Basically, they didn't get kicked out, but Sam Shoemaker was on sabbatical and they were. Bill had started having meetings at the House,

or actually they were having it. I think it

a cafeteria, an automat and

no secret meeting.

You know, it's the big thing was you stay with the group, no lone wolf and Bill was accused of being a lone wolf. And

so anyway, this is a wonderful method in meditating. And if you work with others and they tell you

it's a great way, this is, this is this is meditation for people with ADD, the entire Oxford group, you know, and all that stuff. Yeah,

and, and if you got a sponsee and they're going, you know I can't do it, you know, tell them. You know, we've read Doctor Bob's Nightmare.

Did you see how toasted this man was?

He was doing stuff worse than the cleaning products you were smoking before you came to us.

And the same with Bill.

But Bob was really a really an interesting case. He, I've actually got a tape, a fun tape of a guy that that Bob sponsored in the Oxford Group.

And then he went out drinking. They came back to Alphonse and, and stayed sober and, and he talked about being Bob's office. He's got all these pills behind it, the pills that he used to just throw down his throat.

So.

So anyway, this is called How to Listen. And this particular method was written by a guy, an Episcopal priest. And what I did is I changed the language a little bit so that it's more contemporary.

And so it's called How to Listen. And this is on on my meditation website, which then is the #3

minutespluralminutesofsilence.org.

So I'm going to, I'm going to read through this method

and then we're going to do it once and then we'll do it a second time

to stay, you know, have a little fun with that. Then I'll answer any questions or that you might have.

So how to listen? There is a tradition of preparing for one's day by getting quiet

and tapping into the intuitive voice that resides in each of us. Here is a technique

that has been used for more than 90 years now by members of Initiatives of Change, and that's the new name of

the 1st century Christian movement. Then it was the Oxford Group, then it was morally armament and we became Initiatives of changing on the turn of the century. So on. Take time. Each morning

an orchestra tunes up before the Symphony. We can tune up our lives before the day begins. Once we open the newspaper or turn on the computer, most of us don't stop until we drop wearily into bed.

So wake up,

get your coffee or tea, grab a piece of paper and a pen

#2 relax.

Sit in a comfortable position, consciously relax all your muscles

be loose. There is no need to hurry, there's no need to strain during these minutes. We cannot touch the infinite if we're tense or anxious.

Prepare yourself by breathing deeply and relaxing for three to five minutes. I'm

three TuneIn.

Open your heart to the ultimate reality, either silently or aloud. Say in a way that feels natural to you, that you would like inspiration for this day. If you have a specific problem or are facing, ask for the answer. Be definite and specific in your request

#4 listen.

Just be still, quiet,

relaxed and open. Let your mind go loose. Let your intuitive self receive inspiration. Thoughts, ideas, impressions will begin to come into your mind and heart. Be alert and open and aware to everyone.

Five, right? Here's the key to the whole process. Write down everything that comes to your mind. Everything

writing is simply a means of recording what goes through your mind so that you can remember it later. Don't sort or edit your thoughts at this point. Don't say to yourself this thought isn't important, this is just me thinking. This can't be inspiration, this isn't nice. This is an ordinary thought,

right? What passes through you're not mind, names of people, things to do, things to say, things that are wrong that need to be made right.

Write down everything. Good thoughts, bad thoughts, comfortable thoughts, uncomfortable thoughts, holy thoughts, unholy thoughts, sensible thoughts, crazy thoughts. But be honest. Write down everything. A thought comes quickly and even escapes more quickly unless it's captured to put down

six test. When the flow of thoughts slows down, stop. Take a good look at what you've written. Not every thought is inspired,

so we need to test each thought, examining the written record. Is it honest?

Is it pure?

Is it unselfish?

Is it love?

Is it in reliant with our responsibilities

and is it in line with my understanding of spiritual literature?

Perfect timing. Did you notice that? Sorry about that. No, it's perfect. So any

any questions about that?

OK, the last part, that's his test and I'll we'll go through more of that later. Thank you.

Your timings perfect, really. Yeah,

but you need you need a pencil,

but you need something to write on. Oh, you got a notepad? OK, good.

It's absolutely what I wanted.

I can tell because he could cut it with a knife.

The coffee,

the request was what? Read the last part again. So test. When the flow of thought slows down, stop. Take a look at what you've written. Not every thought is inspired. So we need to test each thought by examining the record. And we'll talk more about that later because there's another section down here, but we're going to first do this and then the test is, is it

you test it to the four absolutes? Is it honest?

Is it pure? Is it unselfish? Is it loving?

Is it in line with our responsibilities

and is it in line with spiritual literature's? We understand it.

So

I'm going to read this one more time just to

well, no, let's so take time each morning. You got that. But let's, let's spend 3 minutes and let's just relax. Let's just let our bodies go loose.

Let's just come to the present moment.

So now I'm going to read the three instructions again and then we'll

we'll do it. So

the third is TuneIn.

So what we're going to do is we're going to open our heart

to the ultimate reality,

and in whatever way we feel comfortable

for what in a parlance we call knowledge of His will for us,

we're going to tune in and say, hey,

I'd like inspiration for this day.

No big deal, right?

And then,

and then we're going to be quiet, you know, we'll, we'll say that silently. So we're just going to hang out together for about 10 minutes

and and then we're going to after we say that prayer to ourselves or to whatever, then we're going to just listen. And by listening, they literally talk about relaxing your mind, not making this a big deal. One of the reason that originally this was called How to Listen to God. You try and do that. Yeah. Listen, man,

so I'm gonna just let our minds go loose and and see what comes. And then anything that comes across your heart, write it down. And I have to let you know that I had the I've had the privilege of reading Sam Shoemaker, one of the great Oxford Group members personal journals that he did his writing in, right. And it's stuff like, you know, meet John, eat oatmeal. I mean,

you know, we're not looking for lightning bolts, OK, But we're looking for a method of getting some direction, OK.

So let's just let's take a couple of minutes and just TuneIn and then start writing. OK, Any questions?

Yes, Sir,

this this will like. Just because we write stuff down, that doesn't mean that there's an answer.

You never know

how a rudder works until you get the boat in the water.

Don't worry about

learning how to swim until we get you into the river. Then we'll figure out all the other stuff. Yes, Sir. OK,

so let me get this right. Yes, when I'm relaxing

thought guns, instead of releasing it just to let it fly by the top of the order, correct, I write it down exactly at that moment at that moment and then let it go and go back to relaxing until and then exactly this is you know how sometimes if you've got a Buddhist teacher, they'll say thoughts are like a, a, a boat boats going down the river and you just don't get on the boat.

OK. So we're not going to get on the boat, but we're going to say HMS Minnow,

USS Enterprise, OK, you have that. OK. So that's all we're doing,

huh?

Yeah, absolutely, Absolutely. So, All right, so let's let's kick it and then see where we go. OK. So we'll take take a few minutes and and you don't have to force it. And that's why it's fun to do it in a Group A couple of times the first go round. OK.

So

what's the difference between this and a task list?

This is

so it occurred to me that there's no reason to do it twice because we're you know, we've settled in and and

and and the method doesn't

I I don't I've never been taught to do it twice.

I was saying that for teaching purposes, but I don't want

so the the so I carry these little cards. My, my, my OG friends all carry little the little pocketbooks. You know, I mean to write things in their inspiration. I carry these cards because they're

multi colored and I can tell one day from the next and all that stuff. And so

I'll actually, when I get done in the morning, I'll transcribe it onto a a note card so that I know now the idea is, well, what do you mean the idea? Let's,

let's, let's see what the rest of this thing. So it says. So now we're done writing. It says test when the flow of the flow of thoughts, excuse me, coffee slows down. Stop. Take a good look at what you've written. Not every thought is inspired. So we need to test each thought by the examining the written record. Is it honest?

Is it pure? Is it unselfish? Is it loving?

Is it in line with our responsibilities?

Is it in line with my understanding of spiritual literature?

The next instruction 7 is check when in doubt and when it's important.

So two different things. When it's in doubt and when it's important,

ask another person who is on the spiritual path.

More light comes through two windows than through one.

Someone who's interested in our spiritual growth may see things more clearly.

Talk over what you've written. Many people do this with their domestic partners. There are always three sides to every question.

This this line has been helpful to me so much over the years.

Your side, my side

and the right side.

Any question

inspiration shows us which is the right side, but not who is right.

Carry out the thoughts that come. You will only be sure of your intuitive voice as you go through with it. A rudder will not guide a boat until the boat is moving as you follow. Very often results will convince you that you're on the right track

and you know this is the fun thing about the spiritual path. We make an experiment. You try this for a few weeks and and it's in the following it that you know you

you'll get convinced because maybe somebody's name will pop up that you haven't talked to in a while.

And he actually because it's written down. Today's the day I make the call

and not, you know, I called you because I got gardens from God. You just say, hey, what's up, and then see where it takes you.

You know, this is the idea of being kind of a secret agent for the power.

And then what if no inspiration comes? Generally, there's a reason. Here are some of the blocks. Any relationship in? Any wrong relationship in my life?

Any wrong that I have not faced and put right?

Any compromise or indulgence that I will not give up?

Anything I know I should do but have not done.

Sounds a little like step 10:00 and 11:00.

Yes, Sir.

Yes. Well, and you can get this on the website on the three minute. Yeah, the whole thing's there. You'll get all of it. In fact, maybe I'll give it to the boys and they can put it on the send it out with the the tape. OK, so you, sorry, I didn't make that clear, but it's, it's on the website and so you don't have to worry about you. So it's any wrong relationship in my life?

Any wrong that I have not faced and put right?

Any compromise or indulgence I will not give up.

Anything I know I should do but haven't done.

Results.

We'll never know what swimming is like unless we get down into the river and try. We will never know how wonderful this technique can be until we sincerely try it. For what? Every person that I know who's honestly tried has discovered a wisdom not their own, come into their mind, have power greater than human power, begins to operate their lives. It's an endless adventure.

So this is kind of a fun thing. So like, this is what I got, you know? I mean, it's like

it's Easter.

Well, what do you do on Easter?

Call your mother

or something. I don't even think about you.

Well, yeah, but I mean, you know, it's it's it's call my mom. Yeah. And then if I'm going to call my mom, probably ought to call my daughter.

I don't expect her to call me, you know,

and then call my colleague Susan Kim because we had had some turnover at work this week. We have the head of housekeeping

quit, and that's a really big thing.

Thank Carrie,

our Hostess, but thank her in the way that she'd like to be thanked. So that means I got to go to Zach and say, OK, what can I do for the girl? That would be lovely,

she'd like. Not that I want to do for her

that she might like.

And then send some stuff to Bill's wife Karen, and ask my wife to call Karen and discuss our coming over in April.

Nothing or shattered,

right? But if I do these things,

you know, I figure I'm following my my intuitive voice, right? Because I asked for it.

Yes, Sir,

Fed conversations, you know, I love praying and meditating. Sometimes I feel like I do it too much. So I have a lot of experience meditating. They're just the whole process of how that goes. So by doing this for the first time, I mean, I'm pretty I guess I'm

like listening today in your voice, my subconscious. So I mean,

yes, is meth would probably be probably pretty good at it starting off at first.

Well, yeah, the the and and I'd love if you want anybody wants to share what it is that they got, you know, I loved it, Love to hear it. The thing is, is that the idea is you write the stuff down,

you carry that little book, you know, and, and and you write that down. And so during your day, if you're confused,

what should I be doing? All right, you know, you come out of a brown out where you've just been thinking about something, you know, just problems. What should I be doing? Oh, I go to this.

Or as it says in the book, you stop again and you ask for inspiration and intuitive thought

what should be doing next and you and you stop it, actually listen. But having the written record, it's it's it's very interesting that to have that what I carried the books I've got, I've still got them, you know, for years.

This one

running out of To Do List doesn't mean you look at it. You mean

got it. You think you've accomplished something, and I'm talking about me now, right? Right. You know what needs to be done, but it doesn't really mean you're doing anything about it.

I've been reading an outline version of 86 to 88 for 29 years that I

took me several years to figure out. This is an instruction,

but never occurred to me to actually write down at that time, in that moment, what was coming up as A

and connecting it to another symbol of mine, which is

my own experience of

character transformation over a long period of time. I've never seen more than two steps into the fog.

Yeah, but if I walk 2 steps forward, I can see two more. If I walk 2 steps forward, I can see

and especially for things that are different.

And there's one task on here

involving a professional obligation that

it's crazy because I know I'm really good doing that

and I don't have any answers.

Always kind of can't stop about

how the hell am I going to approach this particular problem.

All you need to do is take

the first step,

but I never. So for me, it's like right down. We got back.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's just it. Yeah. No more, no answers.

What is a real step that is

today

I need to go to my children that just had children

somewhat isolated from much to discuss with my wife,

but I can't call them

what never occurred to me to write that down after.

Suspect you take it seriously then this is

what's the next step I have.

That's all

I

and some of us very practical. Yeah. I mean my wife is coming home.

Long trip,

exactly what I have to clean, yes, feel comfortable when she comes home and that the kitchen and the living room will be the way she expects to fly or likes to find, likes to find. And I

I always try to do a task for her which

redid the music system.

So I've got stuff to do today,

yeah.

Checking with Graham, my grandmother's

pray for stone

call Kippy. I haven't heard from in the previous one Response to you who left treatment.

Go and pick up my nephew with my

help. Clean up

kids. You take away a I got anxiety next to that because I'm like, it's not that much enough to do right. But there's stuff leftover from last night that I don't know where it's at. So I'm like in my head about it.

I got algebra homework. Call my sponsor.

Where's Anthony?

I think he told me that he wasn't coming

back, giving me trouble. Can't work out. We'll gain weight.

Want to meet up with a certain lady?

My time,

a lot of things on want to ask another particular funeral out. I'm careful

and what I was going to just comment on this. I like the the idea of like writing them down it where it's like once I see it, I write it down and I'm obsessed about it

because a lot of times whenever I'm meditating, the idea comes in and I go, okay, acknowledge it, let it pass, but it doesn't leave

it like acknowledge it, OK, tie it up, put it and tie it and put it to the side. So I like to enjoy it so that that

absolutely perfect. So then The thing is, is going back and reviewing it before absolutes

my my Oxford Group mentor taught me, he said. They're targets. You don't have a target, you're never going to hit anything.

That's what we shoot for. We shoot for honesty

and they're they're LinkedIn a certain in a certain fashion. If you can become honest,

then you can be pure in your thoughts and actions.

You're not just reacting all the time here. You're not governed by, you know my wants and desires, so you pure it even 10

than unselfishness is. Once I can be pure in my intent, I can be unselfish

because I know what I'm doing and why

and then love me.

And so, you know, you go through each of these things and go, OK, now you know,

is girl number one. Is it, how does it sort in there? Now, if we're growing along spiritual lines, what's that? Or is it girl #2 or girl #4? You know, but it's, it's, it allows you to

look at it from a different angle

if you wish.

So simple,

we give Brady, talk to Brady and then the next thing that came was just show her forgiveness by talking to her.

Next thing I got was give Jay a hug and after that it was tell Felix hello, tell him I used to make pain for him after

Lakeview. That's that's what I got.

Very simple. Yeah. To the point, yeah. The only question I have about the first one for myself is, you know, is it pure so?

But I

bring it on.

Yeah, man, please.

Speech problem and PTSD also and

this is amazing for that.

I've always tried to meditate.

But this is, I mean, this is a whole nother.

Would you do me a favor?

What's your phone number?

2917?

OK, now you got my phone number.

I will be delighted to talk with you and encourage you about this anyway possible,

because it really is. It's a way to.

OK, cool.

And

that's, yeah, I mean, this is, this is, this is great. That's really, really fun. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing that.

Oh, that's why I got off this morning.

Yeah, yeah, the the four things are

any wrong relationship in my life

This is this is straight step 10. Any wrong relationship in my life? Any wrong I have not faced and put right?

Good morning my friend.

Any compromise or indulgence I will not give up.

OK. And anything I know I should do but have not done.

So how do those affect our thought patterns and meditation? Well, yeah, I can tell you from experience that if I'm

spending time on the computer looking at pornography,

it scrambles my ability to receive inspiration.

So that would be.

Compromise or indulgence, I will not face

that's there's a real. I mean, this is just my experience.

Yeah. You know, Well, then you follow it, you know? Yeah,

yeah. So in the thing that I like in in here, is that because I'm not,

is that anything I know I should do but have not done it?

I like that one,

you know, because I put stuff on on the side burner, on the side burner.

And, and

so, and when I do these things, when I it's, it's like doing a tenth step. So that, like it says in the book, when these things are done,

then I'm available for the inspiration.

Same thing. Yeah.

The times that I've had the most difficulty meditating or kind of clearing my,

you know, when fear is is literally

I'm shutting that

you don't give me any alcohol to take care of the fear. So I know that it takes me. I mean,

we got like telling somebody that they can't meditate if they're in fear. Is that what we're saying? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

This is about specific actions. This is not about

fear. Now fear for me. One of the reasons that I think that this method is great is that

it's kind of easy and loose,

you know, it's, it's, it's,

it's not religion. It's it's not tapping into any of my old guilt strands

and it's practical for me

now. If I'm in fear,

it would seem to me

that

I'm trying to remember

when I'm in fear. What I do is I don't want to sit down and take the time.

That's that's my experience

is that that's how the fear will manifest is that I want

sit down and meditate because I'll be too busy

trying to do something just

thinking about it.

And so that's that's my experience, but

this would be perfect to deal with the issues that you have that literally would occupy your mind when you're trying to shut it down. Like, man, that thought is something I got to write down. I don't know if Bill was saying you don't take action on it. Literally you don't take action on it. You know, a lot of faith. Well, and then so the next day, it's like, well, anything that I know that I should do but I haven't done,

you know, it's kind of. Yeah,

Well, yes, But in my case, I'm perfectly capable of meditating and have an elephant in the living room that I've covered and

oh, absolutely been touching That process won't even go close to it because I'm unwilling to change it to begin with.

Yeah, yeah,

doing steps and talking about it. But there's something nobody will touch. And you want to talk with people who won't, who don't want to touch it either. So you can get along. But ultimately you have to be willing to say, all right, I got to go there. But you were talking about barriers to to what prevents me from providing

because I'm not always willing to.

I like Bob's line about whatever it is you happen to have in the garage.

So

that's why

I know that when I've broken the habit of not doing,

not this right, sitting down and even reading the 11 step prayer

that there's something going on

because there's no other reason.

And once you and it's, it's like that, you know, I'm not putting my oxygen mask on. Patrick, do you have anything you'd like to kick you?

I found it really cathartic. Now my thoughts were kind of all over the place.

I do have one question. Sure. I've heard a guy I mentioned

trying different techniques as far as meditation is concerned. Just

your experience with this is something that you've been doing

years and years. I don't. This is not my. This is not my current method

now. It's been my method probably.

No. See I'm not telling you the truth. It is my current method.

I got the cards.

I've been using them for for a while now.

What happened for me? Yeah. My my line is pray and meditate the way you drink and use. Just try shit, see where you end up.

I mean really and

and the.

I had the most marvelous experiences. There's a book called The Artists Way

by Julia Cameron,

and it's a classic book about how to unlock your artistic potential

anyway

if you happen to have a girl,

because it's a chick thing, really. I've always thought of it as chick. I mean, it's a classic book. It's been out for 25 years

and Julie is a friend of mine. And anyway, my wife and I started doing the morning pages and, and her deal is very much this, except what you do is you write 3 pages just freestyle every morning.

And we've been doing that for the past couple of years. And then what I do is I go back through that and, you know, pick out the, the Nuggets that I got. But there's all kinds of, you know, Bill and I have a, have a, have a friend who, a mentor that does a method called centering prayer. It's marvelous. I've done chanting, I've done all, all kinds of stuff. This website that I keep referring to, it's the numeral 3

minutesofsilence.org. I got a dozen different ways to meditate on there because I wanted to encourage people to do that. There's a labyrinth symbol, so you can click on it. You can find where the nearest labyrinth is, so you can go do a walk in meditation anywhere on the planet and that kind of stuff. Or my friend Tenzin Preda Harshy chanting, chanting home and teaching you how to do that,

you know, and, and and you know. So it is, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a marvelous adventure.

Do you have anything you want to kick in?

I mean,

no, it's not supposed to be A to do list.

That's supposed to be to do it.

I mean, it was really good. I mean,

this is good for those that.

So it's kind of like having a squeegee

he cleared off the top of your heart.

But you got that, You got the stuff right here, and you can. So it lightens you up during the day. Yeah,

Fig Not High is a favorite. Yeah,

book Fearless or it's fear, whatever.

It's one of my favorite books. I mean he has tons of meditations and monitors in the book and actually did his like little boy and he talked to you little boy and all say like everything is all right.

One of one of going in there he has is

we do meditate each thought, whether good or bad, you tell it hello, goodbye with the smile. And to me this was kind of a process of all the mind was very simple, which is OK. I mean, that needs to be a good thing. But you know, you see the thought, you write it down and like when you write it down, that's sort of to me like telling it goodbye with his mom,

but instead it's on paper. That's to me like that squeegee process. You just talk tonight, just squeegee it out, right. Like I think that's, you know, it huge. I mean, we do a lot of writing, I think in a a,

we're willing it also, you know, psychiatrists have been saying this for years. You know, they don't know why it is, but we either, you know, repress stuff and push it down and they know like over the long haul, that makes an individual very sick, especially the rock. And then by riding things down, we're getting that process of like opening up and you can start understanding

what's going on inside of you. And then all of a sudden, like all these years later, sit down,

actually do something from a group that we're so heavily influenced by. This is so much, this is so simple. This is so easy.

Oh yeah, no problem.

In your noodlings around,

there's a book called I Was a Pagan

by Victoria Kitchen,

and Victoria was sober in the Oxford Group

when Bill came in

to Calvary

and he was a very active member and was all of his life. Victoria had came to the Oxford Group. He was a advertising guy and he had a seizure in his largest alcoholic seizure in his largest client's office.

So he and Bill became rather close. And when Bill comes in,

this book has just come out and and it's got all it's just, it's just a really, really fun, fun read.