Secular Hub

In-Person Meetings at the Secular Hub Wednesdays 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.

LifeRing Secular Recovery is an organization of people who share practical experiences and sobriety support. There are as many ways to live free of illicit or non-medically indicated drugs and alcohol as there are stories of successful sober people. Many LifeRing members attend other kinds of meetings or recovery programs, and we honor those decisions. Some have had negative experiences in attempting to find help elsewhere, but most people soon find that LifeRing’s emphasis on the positive, practical present-day can turn anger and despair into hope and resolve. LifeRing respectfully embraces what works for each individual.
LifeRing believes you DO have the power to overcome your addiction. It’s hard, there are often setbacks, but in every addict there exists the desire to find lasting sobriety. We think of that as the Sober Self. With addiction, that part of us has been beaten down and relegated to a corner of our brains, but it’s still there. We also have an Addict Self that wants to control our decision-making and lead us to use the substance that is wrecking our lives.
LifeRing tries to support your efforts to strengthen the Sober Self and weaken the Addict Self. Our meetings, whether in person or online, consist of addicts using their Sober Self to connect with the Sober Self of other addicts. We share advice, understanding, and encouragement. We focus primarily on our current lives, not on the hurts and damages of the past. Two addicts, talking Sober-Self to Sober-Self, learn from each other, and gain strength from each other.
Steps, and Higher Powers and Sponsors – those work for some people very well. Our approach is different. We think YOU are the best person to design your Own Personal Recovery Program – you know what’s needed in your life and what has to be abandoned. You know what triggers cravings and what provides healthy and strengthening pleasure. You know the path you want to be on and you are the only person who can figure out how best to get there. LifeRing provides safe and supportive contact with others that enables that process to succeed.

Secular Hub members are invited to hang out and watch a movie on our BIG screen at the Secular Hub on Thursday nights! Drinks and snacks are available for sale. Doors will be open by 6:40pm and the movie will begin at 7:00pm.

This is a recurring weekly event, subject to other secular events that require the Secular Hub space. Movie selections are listed on the "Movie Night" blog on the Secular Hub Online website.

We'll make sure to notify when movie nights are cancelled.

Note: Secular Hub meetings such as movie night are open only to dues paying members of the Secular Hub. Sign up on line at http://www.secularhub.org/membership-2/ or in person at the Hub.

U.S. politics are beginning to change dramatically, creating reasons for hope. The current administration has slipped to only 40% approval (Nate Silver’s poll average, 28-Nov). The independent and minority voters that elected it are starting to drift back to the opposition party. Morale among House Republicans is sinking, and GOP insiders warn that more mid‑term resignations are coming and put their narrow majority at risk (Yahoo News, 24-Nov).

It’s chaos, but history has shown that starting with periods of great turmoil, the America system has often taken great strides in synthesis and reform. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s fascinating resignation speech contained many points that sounded like leftist populism. She even railed against the “political-industrial complex,” accusing corporations and party elites of betraying the American people.

A few days later, several of her points were echoed—perhaps unintentionally—by Cory Booker in an interview with NYTimes. Put their statements side-by-side, and the overlap reveals that compromise and collaboration between Red & Blue is now possible. Both sides are calling attention to affordability, corporate influence, and dysfunction in our political system.

So…as the definitions of conservative and liberal start to blur, can we, the people, take advantage of the political class’s uncertainty? Can we get our representatives to focus at last on numerous policies that a super majority of Americans have long supported?

In this month’s Forum, we’ll use AI to combine the messages from MTG and Booker to synthesize a third way for Americans to consider. We’ll discuss how we voters can and should start nudging, even pushing, our representatives into a red-blue collaboration to break the logjam we’ve had in Washington over the past few decades.

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Sound interesting? New participants welcomed! Please note that many "Hub regulars" attend the Forum without making a Meetup RSVP. We usually have 30 or so people there with opportunities for discussion in both small and large groups. See you soon.