Program of Action

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The Program of Action If you now know that you are an Alcoholic, or even find that you simply have “the desire to stop drinking,” you qualify as a member of AA.

The Actions We are told this is a “Program of Action”.

This is an attempt to break down the steps into the individual actions necessary to complete the steps. It is hoped this provides a checklist for sponsors to use working with a newcomer or a returnee.

But that is good news.

If you are an Alcoholic, you qualify for the Program of Recovery outlined in the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

AA began as part of the Oxford Groups1 in which a system of Four Absolutes, Five C’s and Six Steps led the original members of our fellowship to Sobriety 2. This author’s personal favorite form is

You now qualify for the many promises in the Big Book, not just the Step Nine Promises read in many meetings. There are promises throughout the Big Book.

• Get Honest With Yourself

There is a reason for why you have had these problems and have had all the bad experiences related to drinking and your relationships with other people.

• Get Honest with God • Get Honest with Others • Clean up your mess.

• Help others (without thought of reward)

There is a way to escape from the hopelessness and despair of active Alcoholism.

• Continue to improve your Spiritual Life

The Twelve Steps were written to solidify the expression of what they did in those first groups to gain and maintain long term sobriety. If you have a problem with any individual step, look at the previous Steps.

There is a Solution. You have found Hope that the process of the Twelve Steps which has worked for us will work for you!

If your sponsor gives you different directions, follow your sponsor’s direction!

We are told this is a “Program of Action”.

The word action is referred to 17 times in the first 164 pages of the Big Book (Action, 9, 17, 42, 63, 72, 76, 80, 85, 87, 88, 93, 94, 98, 113, 140, 142, and 157). This is an attempt to break down the steps into the individual actions necessary to complete the steps. It is hoped this provides a checklist for sponsors

1 - See Appendix 1

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to use working with a newcomer or a returnee.

trip, swearing off forever (with and without a solemn oath), taking more physical exercise, reading inspirational books, going to health farms and sanitariums, accepting voluntary commitment to asylums...” (Page 31)

Before the First Step 1.!

Step Zero: Recognize “This @#$ has got to STOP!”

We began a cycle of blame and regret that drove many of us to dream of an end - not active suicide, but the prayer that we would simply not wake up one morning. We blamed the people foolish enough to love us as if they should be punished. We blamed the economy, the stars, the government, the neighbors... anything but ourselves.

After that realization few of us were ready to take Step One. We fought the idea we were ‘alcoholic’. We insisted we could do it on our own. We demanded others give us ‘respect’ after years of abuse, damage and failure. We would not admit that our lives were unmanageable.

And even then we could not accept that it was not up to us, with our powers of mind, but that we were in the grip of the compulsion and obsession of what people called “a disease.”

Alcohol may not be cunning, baffling and powerful, but alcohol-ism is! We fight. People who think we have no will power have not seen our ability to carry out complex plans to get what we want. They have not seen the despair and suffering our pride forces us to hide.

Some of stayed away from a drink for a period of time - weeks or months or years but we always found one day where we picked up again and back on the downhill slide that had made us hurt enough tot stop drinking without the actions to keep us sober.

In our pride of mind or of being ‘special’ we began the long treck from Step Zero to Step One. This is the path referred to in Chapter Five: “Half measures availed us nothing.” (Page 59)

Maybe be we even tried AA, but just as a place to go. We learned to parrot back the phrases, throw out the right page numbers, and to ‘look good’. But we didn’t take the actions to go through the Steps. Or we did the few Steps we thought made since but made ourselves exempt from the need to do those other Steps. We didn’t do an inventory, or convinced ourselves that we were allowed to leave some things off the inventory.

We didn’t get or sponsor, or got one but did not listen to them. We did not do the things we were told to do to stay sober.

We turn to church or our religion to fix what we could not. We turn to doctors and pharmacists to stop our struggle with alcohol. We live out the description of changes from Chapter Three: “Drinking beer only, limiting the number of drinks, never drinking alone, never drinking in the morning, drinking only at home, never having it in the house, never drinking during business hours, drinking only at parties, switching from scotch to brandy, drinking only natural wines, agreeing to resign if ever drunk on the job, taking a trip, not taking a

Some people are lucky. They arrive beaten down, with no idea of what “sobri-2 -

ety” would be like, but knowing they cannot stand to live the way they have lived during that last period of alcoholic misery. They ready to do anything to keep their life from staying the way it is.

5.!

You cannot proceed unless both of these are accepted as true in your life.

If you do not feel they are true, discuss with your sponsor why you think: you can do it alone with the evidence to support that that idea; why you are different; why you are not powerless over alcohol; how your life is manageable.

They have, in some way, done the alcoholic prayer. In these words or words very similar to them, they have said “God, please help me. I can’t live like this.”

“Great suffering and great love are A.A.'s disciplinarians; we need no others.” (12&12, pg. 174)

Have you tried the examples of control as shown in the middle of Page 31 of the Big Book?

They are ready to do “the Work” and begin the Program of Action, as outline in the Big Book. Everyone believes the way they were Sponsored through the Steps is right way to do the work. There are many approaches to do the work and if we look for what has kept others sober with different views or histories, we begin “trudging the Road of Happy Destiny”. (Page 164)

Have you tried pure religion to solve you drinking problem?

Has the drinking problem come up more than once? More than ten times?

Do you still think some plan you have tried will be able to bring you to a healthy, happy life?

Can you pass the “20 Questions”3 or the “4 Questions” 4? (See the end of the article).

First Step

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol -- that our lives had become unmanageable.

2.!

Accepted “We” - that “I” could not do this alone.

3.!

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol when we put any in us.

4.!

We admitted we were powerless over the effects alcohol had had upon us, even when we were not drinking.

Refer to “The Bedevilments” in the Big Book and their example of unmanageability:

“We were having trouble with personal relation- ships, we couldn’t control our emotional natures, we were a prey to misery and depression, we couldn’t make a living, we had a feeling of uselessness, we were full of fear, we were unhappy, we couldn’t seem to be of real help to other people — was not a basic solution of these

3 - See Appendix 2 4 - See Appendix 3

We admitted that our lives had become unmanageable.

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8.!

bedevilments more important than whether we should see newsreels of lunar flight? Of course it was.”

(Page 52) Do the “bedevilments” apply to you?

We admitted we were insane and hoped to be restored to sanity. If you feel you have never been anywhere near sanity, we believed this new reliance on a Higher Power could deliver us to sanity for the first time.

If you cannot define yourself as an alcoholic after honestly reviewing this material, perhaps you are not “our kind of alcoholic” as described on pages 44 and 45 in the Big Book, Do you think the instructions for controlled drinking at the bottom of Page 31 apply to you? We saw and admitted that our best ability, best thinking and best action had resulted in us getting drunk and did damage in the lives of others.

You cannot proceed unless all of the previous actions have been done. This does not mean to mimic the actions of others, but you must concede to your innermost selves the basic truths of your drinking career.

However, if on serious and honest reflection on these propositions you feel you are “our kind of alcoholic” we invite you to proceed.

Remember, at this point you are simply removing yourself from the position of “god” in your life. You do not have to define your religion or path at this point, though many do. This step says that you come to believe that a power greater than yourself can restore you to sanity. It means exactly what it says, there is no secret code.

Has your brain,willpower, or thinking, failed to get you/keep you sober?

Do you believe that a Power Greater than Yourself exists and can/will help you?

Second Step “Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”

The most important thing to take away from this step is that a “Power Greater Then Yourself” is not YOU! The exact definition of “A Power Great Than Yourself” is personal and up to the sponsee to define. In addition to the recognized religions and a ‘Name of God’, man people report that they began AA with belief that AA itself would serve as their higher power to make a start. Some people say that GOD = Group of Drunks, or Good Orderly Direction. If a Sponsor can only work with someone in the same Religious view as their own, they need to help the sponsee find someone with whom to deal with that aspect of their Twelve Step Recovery.

The purpose of the Second Step is to offer hope where there was perviously no hope.

6.!

We saw where we were playing “God” in our lives, passing judgements, making decisions and causing harm to ourselves and others – that we were not “God”.

7.!

We came to believe, or became willing to believe, that a Power Greater than Ourselves, sometimes accepted as the Deity, or described in other ways by individual members,existed and we must use that power rather than our proven lack of power to stay sober and so change our lives.

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Do not think the prayers in the Big Book are a magic chant that binds God to your will. After the Third Step prayer (page 63) the following paragraph says:

stances, other people, or your own life, and are now will follow the direction provided to you through the book and through a sponsor, and have put pen to paper to start on your Fourth Step.

“The word- ing was, of course, quite optional so long as we expressed the idea, voicing it without reservation. ” (page 63

To claim to have taken these three Steps and not take the actions of the other Steps will lead to a return to drinking and your continued damage to your own life and the lives of others.

Later, in the Seventh Step Prayer, which come people consider to be the second lahf of the Third Step prayer, another prayer is given, but is preceded with a simple:

Fourth Step

“When ready, we say something like this:” (Page 76)

“Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”

Do you now believe, or are willing to believe that this “Higher Power” can do for you what it has done for the people already in the fellowship?

11.! Set aside time to write the inventory, using the example outlined on page 65 in the book “Alcoholics Anonymous” and/or whatever format has been provided.

Third Step

Follow the directions. Do Not use your word processor, Do Not attempt to record a verbal inventory. If there is a reason you cannot write, discuss alternatives with your sponsor, such as using a trusted scribe to assist with the written and oral parts of the Inventory.

“Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God “as we understood Him.” 9.!

Embraced the thought that this “Power Greater than Ourselves”, as we understood it, could do what we needed, no matter how that source of power had been understood before by you.

Writing seems to fulfill a function of separating the mechanical act of writing and the freedom to be honest about what you are putting down on paper.

10.! We adjusted our lives to look for what our immediate action should be and leave the care of the consequences to that Higher Power, however we understood that higher power to be.

Penmanship and spelling do not matter! Do not worry if you do not feel your handwriting or spelling are ‘good enough’. You are not reading for public review and as long as you are able to read what you write to your sponsor ,or the trusted person to whom you will read your inventory, in Step Five. Follow the basic format given on page 65.

Have You Done the First Three Steps?

You define yourself as an alcoholic in recovery, that you are not in charge of circum-5 -

If your prospect cannot read or write and you are reading this to him/her, you can arrange for a trusted person to serve as “secretary” to write down the inventory and then read it to the Sponsor or trusted person. It is also possible fore the sponsor to work through the whole process doing columns.

While not ideal it will fulfill the need of the inventory and revelation to the sponsor or trusted person - the sponsee still has to make the revelation to his/her Higher Power.

13.! Write consistently on this inventory until it is either ‘done’ or needs to be shared with your sponsor or other trusted person, then resume writing to complete the inventory.

This may mean a given number of minutes per day or per week, as you and your sponsor may agree is reasonable given your obligations of time to family, job or other commitments. Once you agree to this commitment to write, keep that commitment to yourself and to your sponsor.

These are not essays.

You are told to cover resentments, fears, sex, and the harms you have done to others.

The book does not say to separate them, but some people find it better to do them as separate lists.

You may need more than one phase to do your inventory, though some people have done a thorough inventory in a single pass.

Some people refer to any additional inventory work part of Step Ten.

We are also told to inventory our assets (in the contents listing for Step Four in the 12&12 and on pages 42, 46 on at the beginning of Step Ten on page 88 in the 12&12).

This is also spelled out in the Big Book:

14.! Go down the column for Names.

Put people’s name, institutions, moral codes or other items that would come under your Continuing writing down the first column until you cannot think of a new name to ad after 20 minutes of thinking.

“This calm, yet realistic, stocktaking is immensely reassuring. The sponsor probably points out that the newcomer has some assets which can be noted along with his liabilities.

This tends to clear away morbidity and encourage balance. “ (Page 46)

15.! Start the What column, writing down what happened.

This should show why each name is on your list. Keep it short - the longest item in the second column in the instructions on page 65 is 19 words. When you try to overexplain you are trying to justify your part.

We aren’t doing that yet.

Put pen to paper. Do it regularly in a committed schedule.

12.Use columns.

Work down the column, not across.

If you think of a new name while writing the second column, add it to the end of your first column list, go back to where you stopped in the second column and continue writing down that column. When you have completed the lists of “why they are on my inventory”

The first column is the Name, the second column is why they are listed that column “What”, and the third column will be what the person, place, think or incident raises in you. You can simply label that column “Effected”. Use other titles if your sponsor gives you different direction.

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16.! Start the Effected column.

19.! Admitted to God the exact nature of your wrongs in the making of this list.

You may have more than one thing to write but each one should be kept to single words.

20.! Admitted to your sponsor or another trusted person the exact nature of your wrongs in this list.

Some people begin with the Seven Deadly Sins, but that is not a requirement.

Lust, Greed, Envy, and Anger, but overdrinking can come under Gluttony, Fear can take many forms (fear of judgement, fear of discovery, fear of responsibility or even fear of success) and is usually the most dominant of the reasons for our responses. To this list of effects we can add Sex, Security, Position, Reputation.

The “Fourth” column, not shown in the Big Book but adopted over the years by many sponsors, is usually “What Is Your Part” in these wrongs.

Did you do something you were not supposed to do?

Did you not do what you were supposed to do?

Be honest with the Effected item in relation to whatever is in Column Two, regardless of who it is in Column One. Are you angry at a specific person who did the action, or is it the action itself that is the source of listing in your inventory?

Do you keep the injury fresh in your mind by rehashing it and waste time in the here and now, dreaming of how they should correct it for you or how you wish it had been instead of accepting the fact of how it was?

For Example: did you object to a person robbing you or are you angry at being robbed?

The wishing how it could have been or how it should be changed is actually you deciding that you know better than whatever God you understand how it should have been. This is you playing God - review your Second and Third Step when these crop up.

You have accepted whatever form of a High Power you have come to believe and no longer have the right or authority to decide how it should have been.

17. ! Review what you write to see if you were telling the truth.

“Moral” is not about maintaining the tenants of a religion, but by living within the definition of how you think you Higher power wants you to be.

Are you telling the truth about the subject of this entry throughout your Inventory?

Have you seen that the only thing all of this has in common is that you were part of the picture when these items made their way onto yours list?

Fifth Step

Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

If your problems continue to be the fault and responsibility of other people, there is nothing AA can do for you. We can only help you change your behavior, your reactions and your way of living.

18.! Set up a day and time with the person who will listen to your inventory.

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Other people can be wrong, too, but we are doing this inventory to see our own way of living and the places where we need to change behavior, grow up, and break free of the bondage the clinging to the past has caused.

22.! Became willing to give up all the benefits I receive by clinging to my defects.

This can mean getting other people to do something for you, forgive you for something, or otherwise benefit you because you have convinced them that you are just too pitiful to be expected to ever do anything differently.

“Forgiveness” does not mean you are approving of anyone else’s actions, principles, or authority. Forgiveness actually means that you are turning the matter over to the Higher Power of your own understanding and freeing yourself from the rethinking the incident, re-judging the consequence, re-feeling the emotions and allowing so much of your time and mind power drained by the whole episode.

Are you willing give up getting debts forgiven because you have proven too difficult to collect from?

Are you willing to give up getting out of responsibility for doing things, paying for things, meeting commitments because you are “special” and should not be held to the same standard?

“Forgiveness” is really about freeing yourself to use your newly re-sized value and ability to work on your new, sober life– freeing yourself from the burden of regret, anger, shame and guilt of the past.

Are you willing to give up these defects without knowing how to replace those behaviors - yet?

Are you willing to give up your defects even if it means you will be uncomfortable?

In the “Lord’s Prayer”, sometimes used by meetings to close the session, has a line that is most often translated as something like “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” The word “as” is often taken to mean “at the same time” but in the original text the word is intended to represent “to the same measure” – “Forgive me to the same measure I am able to forgive.”

Are you willing to surrender inappropriate sex if you are willing to give up your Lust?

Are you willing to give up your extra money if you give up Greed?

Are you willing to give up the excesses if you give up greed, gluttony and envy?

Are you willing to ask to have these defects removed without demand for their replacements?

Sixth Step Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

Remember that all of this is just being willing - willing to give up the benefits, the crutches, the escape from normal human responsibilities. Are you willing, even if you do not know exactly what your personal Higher Power will provide to replace what is taken?

21.! The Sixth and Sevenths Steps only get one paragraph each in the Big Book, but are major in the quest for Recovery.

There are many elements of Step Six, which we phrase as: -8 -

This does not mean that you will automatically have all your defects removed – it is by dealing with the defects and their consequences that contain many of the lessons we need to learn.

render your goals and your judgements to the complete care of the Higher Power you claimed to believe in in the Second Step, or turned your life over to in the Third Step?

Then do it.

It is the next part that gets tricky.

For our purposes the Seventh Step becomes: “Asked to have anything that interferes with my usefulness to my Higher Power or my service to others through my Higher Power, removed.”

Seventh Step Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

23.! Actively asked my Higher Power to take me and remove everything that gets in the way of my usefulness to others.

Do you have any idea of what Humble means? Look it up.

For some, “Humble” means being “Right Sized”. For others it means to give up being “Special” and realizing the same rule applies, the same consequence applies and the same responsibility applies to you as it does to anyone else.

24.! Accepted what replaces my defects and shortcomings without judgement based on my old beliefs and positions.

Are you willing to live on the new basis of right-sized living outlined in the process in the Steps?

It can mean to give up trying to make anyone believe you are bigger than you are with bravado and pride and showmanship?

Eighth Step Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

It means not trying to avoid visibility by being tiny, unworthy or too insignificant to succeed?

It means being willing to accept the consequences of your action regardless of the cost in money, pride, reputation or relationships.

In this Step we are only making a list.

Most of our list has already shown up in the writing of our Fourth Step. Mine your Fourth Step to begin your Eighth Step list.

And notice the that the wording does not say that you hand your Higher Power a list of what you have decided your defects are and ask that only those be touched. You may have a shortcoming that you have convinced yourself is an asset, but which needs to be removed because it interferes with your ability to perform useful service in the world.

Most people find new people, concepts or institutions to add to their Eighth Step doing Steps Four, Five, Six and Seven give us a clearer vision on who we are and where our actions have created a new need to make things right in our lives.

Understand that “amend” means to repair or make better. It does not mean to say you’re sorry. Talk is cheap and you have said

Are you really willing to turn over your defects removed, your life redirected, sur-9 -

too many things to too many people that you did not mean, or outright lied.

We know that people are not always willing to do all the Amends they feel they owe, usually because of the resentments we still feel are justified or righteous. For this step you simply review your Inventory, create the amends list, and look at the individual cases to see if you are really willing to repair the damage you have done.

You began this list in your Inventory, so your Amends List becomes:

25.! Reviewed my inventory to identify the people, institutions or groups against whom I had done wrong and identified those wrongs.

The phrase “forgive me my debts as I forgive my debtors”, the word “as” is taken to mean “at the same time,” but in the original language of the prayer (Aramaic) the word means “to the same measure.”

We are free of our pasts only as far as we are willing to free others of our bad actions, bad words, bad debts or past judgements.

We may not be willing to right all wrongs when we begin, but as we continue in the process we find that actually want to make the amends we were previously reluctant to correct.

We may not be able to make a direct amends to everyone or everything we have done harm, but we must be willing to fulfill the spirit of amends - to repair or make better. There are many places where we will make an indirect amends, such as changing how we deal with the world in honor of making myself or something outside better.

26.! Added names of people, institutions or groups that have come to mind since doing my Inventory to my Amends List.

27.! Identified the problems within myself that would prevent me from making amends to them all.

There are places where my amends cannot be made directly because the person to whom amends is owed has passed away, or someone forgave the debt (even if they forgive, which is about their kindness or compassion, you have benefited from stolen money and must balance the debt for yourself).

28.! Identified the amends I am willing to make immediately and discuss them with my sponsor.

29.! Identify the amends I believe I would not be willing to make immediately, but believe I will willing to make after a while.

The book does not say we must make indirect amends, but those of us who tried to escape our proper responsibility found we could not stay sober without finding a way to make those amends as well.

30.! Identify the amends I do not think I will ever be willing to make and agree to work with my sponsor to review my progress.

While not everyone believes the wording of the Lord’s Prayer, said at the end of many meetings, there is a concept shared with many faiths that may be worth mentioning.

Ninth Step

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Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

It is possibly the most easily understood of the Steps. But for the action of this step we must look at the last part first.

37.! Made direct amends to those on my reluctant amends, despite my old feelings of justification or righteousness.

You must always be sure that the performance of your amends does not do new damage.

38.! Made indirect amends as my sponsor and I agree would be proper to clear away the wrong I have created.

You may not avoid an amends by claiming you are an “other.” Most people think making amends to themselves involves some new toy or avoidance. Your amends to yourself is your whole Recovery. Remember that on Page 74 we are told “The rule is we must be hard on ourself, but always considerate of others.”

39.! Reviewed my lists with my sponsor and moved my reluctant amends to immediate amends and my withheld amends to a higher position as my amends progress.

While you may remain reluctant to make certain amends, know that your progress is only slowed by refusal to progress with a change in your attitudes and actions.

31.! Reviewed my amends with my sponsor to be sure that my attempts to correct past action does not create new harm to the person to whom I am attempting to make amends or some other party.

Tenth Step Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

32.! Made direct amends to the people, institutions or groups in my first list of Amends as quickly as possible.

This is the beginning of our new life in daily living through Steps Ten, Eleven and Twelve.

33.! Made direct amends to those on my reluctant amends, despite my old feelings of justification or righteousness.

On page 86 we are given simple directions for “When we retire at night” and “On Awakening...” for our daily review.

34.! Reviewed my lists with my sponsor and moved my reluctant amends to immediate amends and my withheld amends to a higher position as my amends progress.

While some people teach Step Ten means only a review the end of the day or periodic review, the Book actually tells us that it is to monitor our ongoing behavior, review it as we go through our day, to make corrects as quickly as possible.

35.! Continued to make amends as the opportunity and willingness allow.

36.! Made direct amends to the people, institutions or groups in my first list of Amends as quickly as possible.

The revised actions would be:

40.! Continued to review my behaviors and attitude through the tools of Admission, Submission, Inventory, Amends and - 11 -

You can ask for suggestions on how to pray, but you must decide. You do not need a special posture, a special place, special music, incense, fuzzy blanket or anything external to pray.

Service as expressed through my new Life.

41.! Make changes my behaviors, attitudes and actions as needed 42.! Make new amends as soon as possible or as soon as they are recognized.

43.! Commit to set aside times to periodically review my inventory process to see what new problems have revealed themselves and make such corrections as required for the maintenance of my Recovery.

If you have a Higher Power that already knows everything and is control of everything, prayer can be seen as your chance to get honest with your personal Power Greater Than Yourself.

Talk to the God of your understanding and ask for: • God’s will.

44.! Continue to do the actions of the previous Steps, as needed, to guide, adjust or repair my current behavior and attitudes.

• Power to carry it out.

Period.

The rest of your life will come from those two sources, if you make the effort.

Eleventh Step

46.! Continued to meditate to find God’s Will in my life.

Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God (as we understood Him), praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry it out.

Recovery is not difficult to live provided you maintain an ongoing willingness to surrender your actions, behavior and direction to the Higher Power you claimed in the Second Step and made and initial surrender in the Third Step.

45.! Continued to pray for God’s Will and the power to carry it out.

Prayer is a separate action and is usually defined as you speaking to the Higher Power of your own understanding. We are told specifically what to pray for, not to make up a list for God or Santa to fulfill.

If praying is you talking to your Higher Power, meditation is listening. You answers will usually come through other people. This does not always mean within your fellowship, but it more of a guidance to keep ourself open to answers. Even if the old answer was good, your God may have a better, deeper answer, to offer you.

Meditation can be a formal session within a specific belief or practice, or it can be as simple as securing some “quiet time” for yourself

47.! Maintained my willingness to change according to the reality in with I live, as guided by my Higher Power and those who share the search for that Higher Power’s will.

Twelfth Step

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changes necessary for the change required to leave the bondage of Alcoholism and the life required to live within that disorder.

Having had a spiritual experience as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

The Twelfth Step tells us that when we begin living the new way, having cleaned away most of the wreckage of the past, avoiding wreckage of the present and creating wreckage in the future.

We have seen in our old life that when we put our hands, our will and our ego into the picture, it usually goes bad.

Those of us who have been in Recovery for a while find that we are all mirrors. We can mirror to the newcomer how he or she is doing and help them clean their own mirror.

We see ourselves in their mirror and our continued growth and well being is dependent on our close association with the endless stream of newcomers who com to AA for help in hopeless situation.

In AA we have been given powerful promises based on a simple deal. If anyone wants to give up the old life and build a new one based on principles when had never successfully applied to daily living.

It requires a decision to change the life we admit we have lead (Steps One, Two and Three), the actions of cleaning up our mess (Steps Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight and Nine), and the effort to keep ourselves within that design for living (Steps Ten, Eleven and Twelve).

It is simple, but it is not easy. It requires action, commitment and willingness.

But the rewards are greater than we could have imagine when we arrived.

So we add:

48.! Commit to share what I have received with others.

49.! I will do Service, in and out of my meetings, to make the open hand of AA available to all who wish to accept it.

50.! Will leave judgement to my Higher Power, however that is defined 51.! Will depend upon the guidance of the tools and principles provided to me as guides for all areas of my life.

We have seen people come into AA and do exactly what they were told, but only as if they were lawyers able to fulfill the exact letter of the direction, but without the internal - 13 -

APPENDIX 1

tion for your actions, or the answer to your prayers.

The Oxford Group The Oxford Group was an early 20th Century Christian fellowship that was officially named “The First Century Christian Fellowship.” The name ‘Oxford Group’ was a quick reference made to help a reporter find the group when it was visiting South Africa.

The Oxford Group was founded by Frank Buchman who became popular with world leaders, but who later made comments about Hitler that caused some people to claim he was a Fascist supporter. What he actually said was that if he were able to convert Hitler to Oxford group principles, he would be in a position to do great good.

Because of the row created by Bachman’s audience the the Chancellor, Oxford University demanded the name Oxford Group be eliminated from the the group’s activities. In 1939 they changed their name to Moral Rearmament, and later to Initiative of Change (still alive through http://iofc.org).

The Three Practices Members of the Oxford Group had several daily practices that they used to maintain their focus and their growth.

• Quiet Time – a period of quiet prayer, reflection, and meditation, usually every morning and as part of a group. Quiet time started each Oxford group meeting and many early AA meetings.

• Guidance – the process of praying, meditating, and could lead to you could feel was “Guidance” or direc-

• Checking – If you prayed and meditated, feel you had received direct Guidance on your problem, you checked your Guidance with other people, lest your ego deceive you into inappropriate action.

AA has continued stressing the practices of daily quiet time for prayer and meditation, but successful members also report some sort of Checking also be used, either through meetings or one-on-one discussion with a sponsor or other members.

The Four Absolutes The Oxford Group taught a focus on a personal relationship to God through an effort to achieve Four Absolutes.

• Absolute Purity • Absolute Honesty • Absolute Unselfishness • Absolute Love While perfection was not likely, the need to struggle in that direction was still necessary.

The Five Cs The Oxford Groups also taught “Five Cs” to illustrate their program of spiritual growth.

• Confidence • Confession • Conviction • Conversion • Continuance

The Six Steps - 14 -

The Oxford Groups used a Six Step system, but it was not codified. Different people have described it in different ways. This is what Bill Wilson wrote down in 1953:

If you have trouble reading Bill’s writing, it says:

For Ed 1. Admitted Hopeless 2. Got Honest with self 3. Got Honest with another 4. Made Amends 5. Helped others without demand 6. Prayed to god as you understood Him. April 1953 Ever, Bill W. Original AA Steps.

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APPENDIX 2

The 20 Questions The 20 Questions were developed by Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Maryland and are still used by many hospitals and clinics while doing intake for a suspected alcoholic drink.

Take this 20 question test to help you decide whether or not you are an alcoholic. Answer YES or NO to the following questions: 1.Do you lose time from work due to drinking?

14.Is drinking jeopardizing your job or business?

15.Do you drink to escape from worries or trouble?

16.Do you drink alone?

17.Have you ever had a complete loss of memory as a result of drinking?

18.Has your physician ever treated you for drinking?

19.Do you drink to build up your self-confidence?

20.Have you ever been to a hospital or institution because of drinking?

2.Is drinking making your home life unhappy?

3.Do you drink because you are shy with other people?

4.Is your drinking affecting your reputation?

What's your score?

5.Have you ever felt remorse after drinking?

If you have answered YES to any one of the questions, there is a definite warning that you may be an alcoholic.

If you have answered YES to any two, the chances are that you are an alcoholic.

If you answered YES to three or more, you are definitely an alcoholic.

The test questions are used at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Baltimore, MD, in deciding whether or not a patient is an alcoholic). Only you can decide whether or not you are an alcoholic, although some professionals may offer very strong opinions on the subject.

6.Have you ever got into financial difficulties as a result of drinking?

7.Do you turn to lower companions and an inferior environment when drinking?

8.Does your drinking make you careless of your family’s welfare?

9.Has your ambition decreased since drinking?

10.Do you crave a drink at a definite time?

11.Do you want a drink the next morning?

12.Does drinking cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?

13.Has your efficiency decreased since drinking?

APPENDIX 3

• When you take a drink, can you control what you will do while drunk?

The Four Questions

• Has the question of whether or not you are an alcoholic come up more than once?

There are four questions for you to answer to determine if you are an Alcoholic: • When you take a drink, can you control how many drinks you will have?

• When you take a drink, can you control how long the spree will last?

For most alcoholics the answer to the first three questions will be “no,” and the answer to the fourth question will be “yes.”

Did you know that these considerations do not come into play with non-alcoholics?

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Actions Reference Before the First Step 1.! Step Zero: Recognize “This @#$ has got to STOP!”

First Step 2.! Accepted “We” - that “I” could not do this alone.

3.! We admitted we were powerless over alcohol when we put any in us.

4.! We admitted we were powerless over the effects alcohol had had upon us, even when we were not drinking.

5.! We admitted that our lives had become unmanageable.

Second Step 6.! We saw where we were playing “God” in our lives, passing judgements, making decisions and causing harm to ourselves and others – that we were not “God”.

7.! We came to believe, or became willing to believe, that a Power Greater than Ourselves, sometimes accepted as the Deity, or described in other ways by individual members,existed and we must use that power rather than our proven lack of power to stay sober and so change our lives.

8.! We admitted we were insane and hoped to be restored to sanity. If you feel you have never been anywhere near sanity, we believed this new reliance on a Higher Power could deliver us to sanity for the first time.

Third Step 9.! Embraced the thought that this “Power Greater than Ourselves”, as we understood it, could do what we needed, no matter how that source of power had been understood before by you.

10.! We adjusted our lives to look for what our immediate action should be and leave the care of the consequences to that Higher Power, however we understood that higher power to be.

Have You Done the First Three Steps?

Fourth Step 11.! Set aside time to write the inventory, using the example outlined on page 65 in the book “Alcoholics Anonymous” and/or whatever format has been provided.

12.Use columns.

13.! Write consistently on this inventory until it is either ‘done’ or needs to be shared with your sponsor or other trusted person, then resume writing to complete the inventory.

14.! Go down the column for Names.

15.! Start the What column, writing down what happened.

16.! Start the Effected column.

17. !Review what you write to see if you were telling the truth.

22.! Became willing to give up all the benefits I receive by clinging to my defects.

Seventh Step 23.! Actively asked my Higher Power to take me and remove everything that gets in the way of my usefulness to others.

24.! Accepted what replaces my defects and shortcomings without judgement based on my old beliefs and positions.

Eighth Step 25.! Reviewed my inventory to identify the people, institutions or groups against whom I had done wrong and identified those wrongs.

26.! Added names of people, institutions or groups that have come to mind since doing my Inventory to my Amends List.

27.! Identified the problems within myself that would prevent me from making amends to them all.

28.! Identified the amends I am willing to make immediately and discuss them with my sponsor.

Fifth Step

29.! Identify the amends I believe I would not be willing to make immediately, but believe I will willing to make after a while.

19.! Admitted to God the exact nature of your wrongs in the making of this list.

30.! Identify the amends I do not think I will ever be willing to make and agree to work with my sponsor to review my progress.

18.! Set up a day and time with the person who will listen to your inventory.

20.! Admitted to your sponsor or another trusted person the exact nature of your wrongs in this list.

Sixth Step 21.! The Sixth and Sevenths Steps only get one paragraph each in the Big Book, but are major in the quest for Recovery. There are many elements of Step Six, which we phrase as:

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Ninth Step 31.! Reviewed my amends with my sponsor to be sure that my attempts to correct past action does not create new harm to the person to whom I am attempting to make amends or some other party.

32.! Made direct amends to the people, institutions or groups in my first list of Amends as quickly as possible.

33.! Made direct amends to those on my reluctant amends, despite my old feelings of justification or righteousness.

34.! Reviewed my lists with my sponsor and moved my reluctant amends to immediate amends and my withheld amends to a higher position as my amends progress.

35.! Continued to make amends as the opportunity and willingness allow.

36.! Made direct amends to the people, institutions or groups in my first list of Amends as quickly as possible.

37.! Made direct amends to those on my reluctant amends, despite my old feelings of justification or righteousness.

38.! Made indirect amends as my sponsor and I agree would be proper to clear away the wrong I have created.

39.! Reviewed my lists with my sponsor and moved my reluctant

From the Oxford Group

amends to immediate amends and my withheld amends to a higher position as my amends progress.

Tenth Step 40.! Continued to review my behaviors and attitude through the tools of Admission, Submission, Inventory, Amends and Service as expressed through my new Life.

41.! Make changes my behaviors, attitudes and actions as needed

47.! Maintained my willingness to change according to the reality in with I live, as guided by my Higher Power and those who share the search for that Higher Power’s will.

43.! Commit to set aside times to periodically review my inventory process to see what new problems have revealed themselves and make such corrections as required for the maintenance of my Recovery.

49.! I will do Service, in and out of my meetings, to make the open hand of AA available to all who wish to accept it.

44.! Continue to do the actions of the previous Steps, as needed, to guide, adjust or repair my current behavior and attitudes.

48.! Commit to share what I have received with others.

50.! Will leave judgement to my Higher Power, however that is defined 51.! Will depend upon the guidance of the tools and principles provided to me as guides for all areas of my life.

Actions in Each Step

4 Absolutes

Step One !.......................... 4 Step Two!........................... 2

1, 2, 3 = 7 Actions 4, 5, 6, 7 - 16 Actions 8, 9 = 15 Actions 10, 11, 12 = 12 Actions

Step Four !......................... 9 Step Five !...........................3 Step Six !............................ 2 Step Seven !....................... 2 Step Eight !........................ 6 Step Nine !......................... 9

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46.! Continued to meditate to find God’s Will in my life.

Twelfth Step

3 Practices

6 Steps

45.! Continued to pray for God’s Will and the power to carry it out.

42.! Make new amends as soon as possible or as soon as they are recognized.

Step Zero !......................... 1

5 C’s

Eleventh Step

Step Ten !........................... 5 Step Eleven !...................... 3 Step Twelve !......................4

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When stuck on a Step, go to the earlier Steps.

When stuck on the right action, go to the earlier Actions.

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