Hi Everyone!
Thank you for your participation and sharing during our meeting this week.
The telephone conference numbers for our group are:
Telephone conference number: (712) 775-7031 Access Code: 397-681-282
Playback recording number is: (712) 775-7029 Access Code: 397-681-282#
Playback reference number: 23
Here is the link for the MP3 of our meeting. This link will only be available for a limited time.
I think that it may now be possible to download the MP3 of the meeting directly from the telephone conference line for all participants. Please let me know if it actually works.
To listen to past recorded meetings, please go to the Recordings tab on the blog.
Our meetings are stored on MediaFire, a cloud storage service.
As a reminder, our group takes place on Sunday mornings at 5:30 AM EST.
Please join us as we “trudge the Road of Happy Destiny.” (AA Big Book 164:3)
Although there is more information that I would like to post on what we read and discussed during our meetings over the past few weeks, I want to have the summaries of our meetings posted before our meeting tomorrow morning.
This week, we read and discussed Step 5 in the AA Big Book. We went over the worksheets that were created for our previous workshop as well.
Step 5 Written Inventory 6-15-2014
If anyone is interested in doing more writing based on the Big Book. Please click on the link.
Here are some of the highlights of our meeting:
Step 4 and Step 5 initiate the process of creating the vital spiritual experience essential for recovery. It is the beginning of the changing and repairing our relationship with God, other people and ourselves.
Ossnath pointed out that 73:1 is similar to the Step 3 decision on pages 60:1 – 63:3. She reminded us that: “we are not bad people trying to be good, we are sick people trying to get well.”
We discussed the qualities that we need to look for when sharing a 5th Step.
Elisheva shared that we do not remove our character defects, God does, in His time. We only ask God to remove our character defects which stand in the way of our usefulness to Him and other people. Our job is to be open, honest and willing to have them removed.
The benefit of our character defects is that they give us an opportunity to connect with God and form a relationship with Him. If we were perfect, we would be God.
Program is in essence applied spirituality. We only recover so that we can be useful to God and be of service to others. How we feel is secondary to how we ACT.
I love this quote from Chuck C. . He is the one who also said that program is about “Uncovering, Discovering and Discarding.”
Another favorite quote by Bill W.: “We do not think our way into right acting, we act our way into right thinking.”
The beauty of the 5th Step is that it gives us an opportunity to share how we feel, have our feelings validated by another person, and then move on and apply an appropriate program of action.
In conclusion, the 5th Step is a deceptively simple and yet very effective technique to change from being self-centered to God-Centered.
Please notice: the 5th Step inventory process as it is presented above mirrors the 4th and 5th Step Inventory process of the Back to Basics.
Program is is really very simple!
Homework: Next week, we will all complete our 5th Step and share with each other during the group what we gained from our experience. The 4th Step can be done using the format of your choice.
As an experiment, I would like us to also do the Steel on Steel Group format together.
This is a particular group format for people who have already gone through the steps which was created by Mark H. (who has unfortunately passed away.)
It is something that I have wanted to experience for a long time so I am VERY excited that we will try it as a group.
After that, I would like us to read from The Unpopular Guide to Step 5.
Depending on the group’s interest, we can also explore other program literature, such as the Little Red Book or the AA or OA 12 & 12.
I am so grateful to be sharing this journey with all of you!
Thank you all for sharing your experience, strength and hope.
“Together we can do what we can never do alone.”
In love and service,
Shira
Emotional Sobriety And Food 