Thanks For The Direction Frank D.! Coincidence? I think not…
From Barefoot’s World;
Personal Gains Of Being A Sponsor
No one reaps full benefit from any fellowship he is connected with unless he wholeheartedly engages in its important activities. The expansion of Alcoholics Anonymous to wider fields of greater benefit to more people results directly from the addition of new, worth-while members or associates.
Any A.A. who has not experienced the joys and satisfaction of helping another alcoholic regain his place in life has not yet fully realized the complete benefits of this fellowship. On the other hand, it must be clearly kept in …read more

This is from yesterday’s Daily Reflection…
“Never talk down to an alcoholic from any moral or spiritual hilltop; simply lay out the kit of spiritual tools for his inspection. Show him how they worked with you.”
I was taught never to look down on another alcoholic unless I was willing to pick them up. After all, how did I feel (still do feel) when someone spoke down their nose at me? Degraded, humiliated, diminished, usually followed directly by anger – how dare they speak that way to me!
“I must examine myself whenever I meet a newcomer to make sure that I am …read more

I’m Not Here Tonight To Help You!
My best friend, who has a deep passion for recovery, went to his treatment facility commitment this past week and heard these words spew from the “chairperson’s” mouth. Lonnie raised his a** up off his chair, felt tempted to spew back, didn’t, then found something else to do elsewhere in the world away from this extreme self-centeredness.
I imagine the tone had been set earlier as the “meeting” had been re-designated another type of recovery meeting rather than an AA meeting by a small number of AA “members” who apparently decided to take ownership of …read more

I swear! I heard it at a meeting! Out of the mouth of – – a teenager! No, not a young person, someone with 17 years “sober.”
“I do the first three steps every day. The other nine? Well, they’ve become, well, they’ve almost become optional.”
Damnation!
There was a brand spanking new newcomer sitting there in his very first meeting! How the he** can people say such things???
If you’re a newcomer to recovery, please, please get a sponsor!
Of course, there are other things that are optional also, like eating and breathing and water. Cut out any of these and you’ll get exactly …read more

Immediately I’m in trouble, lol. You see, left alone, with myself, by myself, there is a fool talking to an idiot about an a**hole. I debate with myself. I come up with some pretty inane stuff left to my own devices. There is a strange “twist” in my mind called alcoholism which leads me to believe all sorts of insanity. For example – one drink of Wild Turkey 101 will solve my problems. Then, I take a drink, the drink takes a drink and finally, the drink takes the man. Quite possibly others also. You know what I mean.
So how …read more

Early A.A. in Akron, Ohio had developed their own manual with which to help prospective new members. I think we’ve all seen these but I didn’t know their origin – now I do and so might you… Once again, thanks to Glenn C. at AA History Lovers at Yahoo!
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THE PROSPECTIVE MEMBER of A.A. may have some doubts if he is actually an alcoholic. A.A. in Akron has found a yardstick prepared by psychiatrists of Johns Hopkins University to be very valuable in helping the decide for himself.
Have your prospect answer the following questions, being as honest as possible with …read more

What they’re like and the fact that everyone has one. Each of us is allowed to have them – it’s the way we’re all made. If/when I feel I’d like to disagree, I am able to and right now, I will…
Sorry Jason, with all due respect to your length of sober time I think your stance on an AA meeting becoming something other than an AA meeting at the moment something pre-determined not to be “conference approved” literature by human beings is read, is far from the soundness of mind I offer my gratitude to my God for.
If everyone got …read more

Thanks Namenlosen – I love the words especially “quibbling.”
Soooo – “Real” Alcoholic? What is a “Real” Alcoholic? I am a Real Alcoholic. Why? Because I say so, not because Danny S. says so, because I say so. There is a reason I say so. That reason is because experienced people in Alcoholics Anonymous were able to bring it to my attention with sufficient force that I learned it was true! It? What is “It?”
“It” is the fact that I can’t stop drinking once I start. Very simple.
Along the lines of the discussion though, I have had the experience of seeing …read more

The mention of a name I hadn’t heard until now, Richard Peabody.
These two sayings;
Take what you need and leave the rest…
Half measures avail us nothing…
Then, a Google search and the discovery of a page about the book Peabody had written in 1931 “The Common Sense of Drinking.”
The revelation, to me, of the fact that;
As Fate would have it, Bill trained at the Officers Training Camp at Plattsburgh, New York, during the Summer of 1917, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Coastal Artillery. During the Summer, Richard Rodgers Peabody trained there and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in …read more

Sure don’t…
Show up late to a meeting (not unheard of and everything is exactly the way it is supposed to be), sit down and ask your neighbor what the topic is (didn’t hear the first couple of folks share). When given the answer you offer some type of “wave” with your hand like “Oh, I got this one!” Or – “Not this one again?” Well let me tell you… just wait ’til I can share, then fidget until the sharing gets around to you.
I guess your 5 years (?) gives you the right to let everyone know that if you’re …read more