(Editor’s note: Following the call for lust inventories at the recent Daytona Beach Conference, the International Central Office reports that several SA groups have called and expressed a desire to follow through on taking lust inventories, and requested guidelines on how to do it. The following guidelines, written by Roy K., are submitted by the North Hollywood SA group)

In a business meeting, take a group conscience on when and where to have the session. We voted to devote a regular meeting to it to get the most number of members participating.

Read passages on lust in the White Book that show how our program centers on lust as the underlying problem and victory over lust as the solution: e.g. The First Step and Third Tradition; “What Is a Sexaholic and What Is Sexual Sobriety,” page 3; “Lust,” page 40. This is to point up the fact that without progressive victory over lust, we have no recovery and no program. Recovery from “acting in” is what makes recovery from “acting out” possible. It’s the “acting in” that’s killing us.

We found it helpful to begin with spontaneous prayer for honesty, openmindedness and willingness to see ourselves as we really are with lust, putting aside all lengths of physical sobriety, and leading with our weakness.

The leader starts by leading with his or her weakness, bringing to the light exactly where they are with lust today. Where do we currently stand? Generally, when one person gets absolutely honest, others will follow. Telling where we are with lust today might include different things for different members. Some suggested questions might be:

• Where am I in desiring to masturbate today?
• Where am I in playing the old tapes in my mind today?
• Where am I with the looking and “drinking” today? With TV and the Internet, with real people?
• Where am I with making the mis-connection today?
• Where am I with other forms of lust?

After everyone has had a chance to bring their truth to the light, open the meeting to crosstalk on the following questions:

• What does this tell us about ourselves?
• What does this tell us about our group or intergroup as to where we are today?
• What does this tell us about SA and where SA is today?

Consider a follow-on meeting where we take what we discovered in the first session and see how to use that to better serve our individual and group recovery.

Have one or more members write up a brief synopsis and send it to the International Central Office for sharing in the Essay. Describe the effects this inventory had on your group.