"Resentment is the "number one" offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else."
(page 64)

I know, I'm havin' a bubble mate ;o)

"Happiness and peace. Those are really the prime issues in human existence. That is what all of us are seeking. This often is a bit hard to see because we cover up those basic goals with layers of surface objectives. We want food, we want money, we want sex, possessions and respect. We even say to ourselves that the idea of 'happiness' is too abstract: "Look, I am practical. Just give me enough money and I will buy all the happiness I need". Unfortunately, this is an attitude that does not work. Examine each of these goals and you will find they are superficial. You want food. Why? Because I am hungry. So you are hungry, so what? Well if I eat, I won't be hungry and then I'll feel good. Ah ha! Feel good! Now there is a real item. What we really seek is not the surface goals. They are just means to an end. What we are really after is the feeling of relief that comes when the drive is satisfied. Relief, relaxation and an end to the tension. Peace, happiness, no more yearning.
So what is this happiness? For most of us, the perfect happiness would mean getting everything we wanted, being in control of everything, playing Caesar, making the whole world dance a jig according to our every whim. Once again, it does not work that way. Take a look at the people in history who have actually held this ultimate power. These were not happy people. Most assuredly they were not men at peace with themselves. Why? Because they were driven to control the world totally and absolutely and they could not. They wanted to control all men and there remained men who refused to be controlled. They could not control the stars. They still got sick. They still had to die.
You can't ever get everything you want. It is impossible. Luckily, there is another option. You can learn to control your mind, to step outside of this endless cycle of desire and aversion. You can learn to not want what you want, to recognize desires but not be controlled by them. This does not mean that you lie down on the road and invite everybody to walk all over you . It means that you continue to live a very normal-looking life, but live from a whole new viewpoint. You do the things that a person must do, but you are free from that obsessive, compulsive drivenness of your own desires. You want something, but you don't need to chase after it. You fear something, but you don't need to stand there quaking in your boots. This sort of mental culture is very difficult. It takes years. But trying to control everything is impossible, and the difficult is preferable to the impossible."

(Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola)

Hey 1 in 20!! Meetings in the UK are predominantly 90 minutes long!!

We do not allow cross sharing in meetings. I have been to a meeting where it had turned into a kind of conversation - it wasn't good, there was advice given on all sorts of problems, people saying they wanted to kill someone and others laughing and saying they often felt that way too. When someone attempted to interrupt my share, I made it quite clear that I didn't appreciate their comments or interference. A couple of us in the meeting went every week and gradually, it changed into a much healthier group than it had been!

>>> We do not allow cross sharing in meetings. I have been to a meeting where it had turned into a kind of conversation - it wasn't good <<<

At Dignitary meetings there is a pecking order to their method. Senior members peck on intermediate members who peck on junior members who peck on new comers. If things get out of order, the most senior member takes the helm. While it seems rude and even despotic, they do try and help each other in ways that I have seldom seen elsewhere.

They call themselves a "Mens Group" and not a meeting because their fellowship extends far beyond the meetings. The majority of them have either been chronic relapsers or still are relapsing and need all the help they can get outside the meetings.

They don't care if their methods scare away newcomers. They have a growing membership and even try and limit the size of some of their meetings by deliberately locking the doors when the room looks full.

I agree with the "for me" statement, and that's how I share.
That said, there is an awful lot of crosstalk at the various meetings where I live. I just try to be a good example.
If I have to say something regarding what took place at a meeting, I check myself to make sure it is kind, necessary, and true.