Mar 13, 2009 -- 9:41PM, AKwinters wrote:

If I go to a meeting and drink some coffee, share how things went that day or what I'm going through, help put chairs away and then go home, have I participated in the program of A.A.? People don't actually recover on the inside by doing these things do they?

What does it mean to get out of the self with regard to the program?

Take on a sponsee?

Talk to a sponsor?

I know there comes a point where issues have to be hashed out, and to do this one has to be serious about their own recovery, no one will do this for you. Is this what is meant when people say "it's all in the steps."

If self is the primary issue for recovery, what does one actually do to be unselfish? Is one perpetually thinking of others, or is this another one of those epiphanies that sneaks up from out of nowhere, where the ultimate goal is to achieve a state of mind that nutures healthy ego without reverting back to alcohol?

Can anyone actually provide any concrete examples of the day in the life of A.A. in action?

What do people do in A.A.?

 

This is a nice quote here.  It's a real question that would make a nice topic.

I belong to a group that does steps yearly.  We have a meeting that meets once per week.  That's it.  We meet for lunch on Friday when we can.  Since we do steps yearly, we really don't have or need sponsors. 

Once you've been through a set of steps, you should be sponsor-free.  Why be a burden to some poor guy the rest of his life?  Where should your reliance be anyway?  In your sponsor?  Or in God?  Who's responsible for your sobriety?  You're sponsor?  Or you?  I don't understand why some people like to be under somebody elses thumb.

Also, if you come to our group, you'd need to be an alcoholic who wants to quit for good and all.  Nobody else.  Just alkies.  We also don't believe in dual problems.  I've got a dual problem.  I've got big kahunas.  And they hurt a lot.  But we don't talk about my big kahunas.  If you have dual problems, then once the heat gets to hot on one problem, they just jump to the other problem.  Either you're alky or you're not.  Get in or get out.

So we have a chair picker.  They pick the chair person for that next week's meeting.  The chair person comes with a topic, reads a bit out of the book, shares his/her recent experience with the step, then calls on others to share... their current experience with the step/topic.  We have a 3 minute meditation before we open the topic to the group.  When we're done with discussion, we have 30 minutes of crossfire.  There, anybody can ask anybody a question about their experience on the topic.  We conclude the meeting with the Lord's Prayer.

That's all we do.  We write 3 column inventories, 5th step it with another drunk, do 6, 7, and 8 and make all our amends, then do 10, 11, and 12.  We start on Sept 1st and and are finished with our amends by Thanksgiving.  that gives us the other 9 months of the year to do 10, 11, and 12.

We don't give a darn about A.A. at the regional, national, or world level.  Y'all can drink.  We ain't drinkin' no matter what.  I got my book and if I see a new drunk I'll pitch him/her if I can. 

• Do you have a problem with booze?
• Do you want to quit for good and all?

If the answers are "Yes" and "Yes", and the attitude is contrite and sincere, we'll work with you.  Otherwise, we'll send you to one of those more merciful groups.

How does that saying go?  Let us love you till you kill yourself?  A.A. is not sentimental.  Why? Because of booze.

If you don't care about your sobriety, we can't care.  It's a spiritual law.  If you do care, we have to care.

A.A. works.  It works everytime.  A.A. is a set of swingset instructions.  You attach A to B and B to C etc.  You get a swingset.  A.A. is to be experienced.  Not debated, studied, guided, etc.