Welcome back!

I am looking forward to our meeting tomorrow morning.

With the group’s permission, I would like to change the topic of the meeting to Tradition 1:

Short: ‘Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon AA unity’

Long: ‘Each member of Alcoholics Anonymous is but a small part of a great whole. AA must continue to live or most of us will surely die. Hence our common welfare comes first. But individual welfare follows close afterward.‘

JANUARY 31

OUR COMMON WELFARE COMES FIRST

The unity of Alcoholics Anonymous is the most cherished quality our Society has . . . We stay whole, or A. A. dies

TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 129

Our Traditions are key elements in the ego deflation process necessary to achieve and maintain sobriety in Alcoholics Anonymous. The First Tradition reminds me not to take credit, or authority, for my recovery. Placing our common welfare first reminds me not to become a healer in this program; I am still one of the patients. Self effacing elders built the ward. Without it, I doubt I would be alive. Without the group, few alcoholics would recover.

The active role in renewed surrender of will enables me to step aside from the need to dominate, the desire for recognition, both of which played so great a part in my active alcoholism. Deferring my personal desires for the greater good of group growth contributes toward A.A. unity that is central to all recovery. It helps me to remember that the whole is greater than the sum of all its parts. (AA Daily Reflections)

During our break, I came across some wonderful information on the traditions. The traditions are frequently overlooked in our program, and one we did not discuss during our BBA.  If the steps are how we recover, the traditions are how we practice the principles of the steps in all our affairs and in our relationships with others.

Additional documents are posted under the documents tab for what we will be using in our discussion of tradition 1.

Looking forward to “seeing” you all tomorrow.

I have missed our meeting!