My Twelfth Step in Action
Here are two ways I practice Step 12:
‘His Sanity Returned and He Thanked God’
Recently my sponsor in another 12-Step program pointed out a sentence in the Big Book that I hadn’t paid special attention to before. It comes in Chapter 11, A Vision For You. The reading has to do, in part, with events surrounding a business trip by Bill W., the co-founder of AA, when he was just six months sober.
The Face, Hands, Voice of God
I attended family counseling for six years; my wife was crazy and she wasn’t getting any better. Did it have anything to do with the fact that I was having several simultaneous affairs? I was a respected professional in a small town. Some of the women were my clients. This was in violation of the ethics of my profession and whatever ethics I might have thought I had for my marriage.
What’s Going On in SA
Two Trustees rotated from service: Dorene S. and Maria G. Other Trustees were affirmed for another year of service: Luc B. and Lawrence M.
Rule 62
How many Delegates does it take to change a light bulb?
Opening the Dialogue about Disclosures in Meetings
The following suggested policy on how to deal with abuse disclosed at meetings first appeared in the ESSAY in October 1990. It is reprinted here at the request of the Delegates and Trustees, who discussed this and related issues at the General Delegate Assembly meeting in St. Louis, on July 7.
Gratitude (Great Attitude)
Thank you God for SA with a very tough bottom line; recovery came to me because of this program. Thank you for teaching me that every person has dignity. No matter what their station in life, economic status, addictions, and illness, no matter what they’ve done—every person has dignity.
Feeling Better
“Sounds like you are feeling better.” Those were the words uttered by my sponsor when I called in despair over a financial predicament I was working through during a career transition.
I Didn’t Fix Anything
Sometimes, in meetings, I would share about the “amazing insights” I had, but these are all things I now see in my rear-view mirror. My motives and drivers were revealed to me after I did the work of the Steps. My insights did not lead to recovery. They are knowledge I had been given as the result of working the Steps.
Serenity in Silence
While working for the radio industry as a disc jockey, I was trained to avoid dead air in my work. Pushing buttons, speaking, starting programs on time was very important. Timing, down to the second, in every hour was accounted for. Two seconds of “nothing” on the radio seemed an eternity, and was often cause for unemployment if done repeatedly.
