I remember my first contact with non-sexaholics who helped us. We got to know them at an AA open meeting. They were Brano and Marianka, two young and enthusiastic people who were interested in discovering why certain young people are unable to establish healthy relationships.
I have to admit it. I spent a lot of my life searching for a solution. I used to think that I am drowning in a well, and I must find a solution in that well. But that all has changed now. After joining SA, I came to learn that I was looking for a solution in the mud of the problem! I am grateful to God that after I have joined the program, I simply did not leave and run away! I had a feeling, which I wasn’t sure about, but it said “stay in the program”.
In my sponsorship lineage, we work the Traditions after the Steps. Based on what others have taught me and what I have experienced, I put together the following handout in which I try to boil down each Tradition to a word for phrase that best expresses the principle it represents followed by inventory questions to guide my application of the Tradition.
“I swear, this is it. This is the final straw. The last time I’m giving in to this disgusting, awful habit. The last time I’m degrading myself and letting down the people I love. I’m done.” Those were the thoughts playing in my head as I pondered the weight of that in which I had just indulged. Shame and inferiority swept over me in waves, leaving me desperate for some glimpse of rescue.
The theme for the December edition of ESSAY is “Fun in Recovery.”
Discussion Topic: How do I and my local fellowship cooperate with professionals?
Dear ESSAY, thank you for the wonderful suprise I received in the August edition on The Slogans. On p. 20 I unexpectedly found an article written by my sponsor with a picture of my cat “Milton” and an embroidery work I had sent her when I had been working on it.
A good deal of us came in through professionals of various kinds, whether they were therapists, helpline workers, psychiatrists, life coaches, or clergy members. The AA Big Book gives a clear recommendation not to disregard human health measures: “God has abundantly supplied this world with fine doctors, psychologists, and practitioners of various kinds.
I first heard about prison meetings from a member who started prison contact through the Gideon Society in Georgia. He told me that I would have to take a course in order to qualify to enter prisons. I then heard from a prison chaplain who was running a number of recovery programs that he would be interested in running an SA program too.
Joe was an SA member who lived some distance away from the nearest meeting and hardly ever got a chance to go. He had a few months’ sobriety, and his sponsor was very encouraging, giving him lots of advice. So Joe decided to start a meeting nearby.
