Tradition Nine: AA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.

• Do I still try to boss things in AA?
• Do I resist formal aspects of AA because I fear them as authoritative?
• Am I mature enough to understand and use all elements of the AA program – even if no one makes me do so – with a sense of personal responsibility?
• Do I exercise patience and humility in any AA job I take?
• Am I aware of all those to whom I am responsible in any AA job?
• Why doesn’t every AA group need a constitution and bylaws?
• Have I learned to step out of an AA job gracefully – and profit thereby – when the time comes?
• What has rotation to do with anonymity? With humility?

Sooo – have you needlessly extended finished discussions? Do you perpetually attempt to continue to “get your point across?” When your fellows are sitting and squirming out of their chairs because the GSR meeting has been over for fifteen minutes and you’re still rambling, are you ignoring them? BTW – the next meeting is waiting for you to finish so they can conduct their normal meeting but you’re holding their meeting room hostage.

Perhaps you’ll remember that this Tradition says: “to those they serve” not vice versa…

Post from: Blisstree

Playing The Boss?

Folks, please, if you find yourself in meetings where there is someone who never shares until the end of the meeting and then begins their sharing with “During this meeting I have observed blah, blah, blah,” then offers up some magnificent wisdom based on a few years away from a drink, that is a certain example of something you’ll want to leave there and take the rest. You might want to run it past your sponsor especially if it sounds like it applies to your case.

On the same thought – if you are approached by anyone, in a meeting environment, who promotes themselves to you as some form of “addictionologist” or therapist, please, I beg you, do your due diligence to discover everything you’d need to know about this “professional” before you accept a diagnosis or prescriptions from one. Get references, Google them, ask around, use whatever resources are available to determine that the person is someone you can trust your life, your physical well-being or your mental well-being to.

We had one of these here a couple of years ago. He came from Texas and managed to gather quite a few of our members as clients before he was discovered to have been run out of Texas and his credentials were bogus. It is possible he is in Florida now. Be alert – remember, constant vigilance is the watch word.

Post from: Blisstree

It’s My Observation…

Yet, its at work now that I have been given the opportunity to watch someone who is keeping it green for me. He simply cannot, will not, whatever – stop drinking. All day, every day, through the night into the morning and so on and so on. At 9:15 am he has been unable to string two coherent words together to make a sensible comment over the phone and his workers are telling him to stay home. He owns the business!

Which brings to my mind one of the profundity pushers’ statements that will absolutely not work for me!

“I do a fearless, thorough, First Step every morning.”

I’m an alcoholic 100%, 100% of the time. I must live the First Step 24/7/365. Including when I’m at sleep. Sleep is not a cure for my alcoholism! It doesn’t go away overnight and then return each morning.

I must live this or I will die…

Post from: Blisstree

This Would Not Work For Me

“Whom you see here, what you hear here, when you leave here, let it stay here.”

It may also have been the result of our sister fellowship according to Glenn C. and others. Glenn points us to “The Tools of Recovery” at Hindsfoot and says: “Some of the local folks say that this statement was first read by one of the people who put together the seven ‘tools of recovery’ when he was attending an Al-Anon meeting.”

Steven L. comments that he’d seen the statement on a Manhattan Project documentary and then Glenn offers that perhaps our Al-Anon brothers and sisters went “nuclear” and adapted the slogan for their use.

For anyone who might not know, Glenn also includes, “The Manhattan Project (1941-1946) was the top secret World War II project in which the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom worked together to produce the first atomic bomb. Research took place at over thirty sites in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom.”

Now you get it, right?

Post from: Blisstree

Al-Anon Members Went Nuclear!

This is the Primary Purpose of Alcoholics Anonymous, i.e. what AA is;

“Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.

The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety.”

Please notice that this says “a desire to STOP drinking.” Apparently, in the last few years, we have allowed something to change. We have decided that it would be more worthwhile to have another “First Step” meeting than speak about what we actually do in A.A. Ask yourself when the last time was that you heard anyone explain, in a meeting, to the newcomers, that the absolute first thing we do in Alcoholics Anonymous, is practice abstaining from the consumption of alcoholic beverages, totally! One day at a time. We don’t drink alcohol!

Try this sometime – ask a newcomer you’ve seen a couple of times what we do in A.A. I’m curious what the answers might be.

Post from: Blisstree

We Practice Total Abstinence

When we arrived at the clubhouse yesterday there was an old “friend” sitting outside. We hadn’t seen him in quite some time and the first thought I had was “I’m glad you’re back.”

We shook hands, said our hellos, got our coffees, sat down and asked “Where have you been?” The answer wasn’t what I wanted to hear and had nothing to do with drinking (for now). “Raising my kids, running my business, doing all those life things, blah, blah, blah…”

“Comin’ up on twenty years, tomorrow’s my anniversary, so it was time I showed up for a meeting.”

From page 129;

“For a time he may try to hug the new treasure to himself. He may not see at once that he has barely scratched a limitless lode which will pay dividends only if he mines it for the rest of his life and insists on giving away the entire product.”

And I want to know how these arrogant people get to keep what they have and not give it away!

I want to know how many newcomers might have benefited, or even found sobriety, by listening to and identifying with him.

And what I really want to know is why I’m different, why they’re more special than me, why I have to do what they don’t have to do to stay sober!

And I owe a debt of gratitude to Mary Ann from my first home group, Blue Point Traditions, who told me (and many others that night) that she was self-centered in the extreme but one of the most self-centered things she could do would be to keep this gift all to herself.

I’ll keep following in the steps of those who taught me, thank you. I’ve been given a legacy. Pass It On!

I can’t pass it on if I’m not in a place to pass it on…

Post from: Blisstree

The Worst Best Kept Secret In AA [And Any Other 12 Step Program]

Daily Reflections

“They are servants. Theirs is the sometimes thankless privilege of doing the group’s chores.”

First Things First – this comes directly after a question posed asking: “Do these oldtimers think they can run this group forever?”

From which we find that any authority perceived over time is really limited or non-existent. God has His way of fairly dispersing responsibility within A.A. so that all might eventually become involved in service work. I think that’s a grand plan!

On a personal note (I don’t know, probably self-centered – yeah – and?) I see a message to me that was totally on point and timely, yesterday and now.

The message is “I, my son, live as though I were never going to die.” Contrasted by “How strange – I live as though I were going to die tomorrow!”

I see my mindset. And I don’t like it. Without being wordy, my mother didn’t make it through the year of her life that I’m in now. It has played on me.

So I remind myself of Fr. Martin’s words and I say “Thanks.”

To paraphrase: “There is one undeniable fact about my future. I have one. I simply don’t know how long that future will be. There is only one thing I can do with my future. I must commend it to the Providence of God.”

Find the positives – see the projections. I can still be negative yet, today, I have tools and friends that help me see the Light and the Truth, live it and not have to drink! I am wonderfully grateful

[Though you don't know and may never know, I care about you]

Post from: Blisstree

Trusted Servants

“For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority – a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants.”

The Second Tradition (pg 132 in the 12 and 12)

“Our Society has no president having authority to govern it, no treasurer who can compel the payment of any dues, no board of directors who can cast an erring member into outer darkness, when indeed no AA can give another a directive and enforce obedience.”

From pg 133, an attitude I have to be careful of, “Look at all the good we’ve done these drunks. They should be grateful!”

Elder Statesmen: the one who sees the wisdom of the group’s decision, who holds no resentment over his reduced status, whose judgement, fortified by considerable experience, is sound, and who is willing to sit quietly on the sidelines patiently awaiting developments.

Bleeding Deacon: One who is just as surely convinced that the group cannot get along without him, who constantly connives for reelection to office, and who continues to be consumed with self-pity.

The deal is – if I have experience with something that has worked for me, I can suggest you try it also. It might work for you. However, it is no one’s place to tell any other AA “this you must do!”

If you’re a newcomer and you’ve heard “take what you need and leave the rest,” please don’t think you know what to take or leave. Please try to pay attention to who the oldtimers are and after the meeting talk to them. Find out what they think would be a good idea for you to take or leave. Please…

A Sober, Clean Evening To All,

Mark

Post from: Blisstree

Trusted Servants