This used to be ubiquitous in AA meetings; it was so common as the way to help beginners get through the steps and seems to have been lost. I think it might prove helpful.
It's a bit long, but remember it was the basis of a meeting or talk so would usually be an hour and half or two hours or so.
Good way to do step one. Good discussion material too.
PREFACE TO TABLE TALK
The following pages contain the basic material for the discussion meetings for alcoholics only.
These meetings are held for the purpose of acquainting both old and new members with the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions on which our program is based.
So that all 12 steps and 12 traditions may be covered in a minimum of time they are divided into six classifications and one evening each week will be devoted to each of the six subdivisions. Thus, in six weeks, a new man can get the basis of our 12 suggested steps and 12 traditions of A.A.
* * *
These steps are divided as follows:
Discussion No. 1 -- The admission, Step No. 1
Discussion No. 2A -- The spiritual phase, Steps No 2, 3 and 5.
Discussion No. 3 -- The inventory and restitution, Steps No. 4, 8, 9 and 10.
Discussion No. 4 -- The active work, which is Step No. 12
Discussion No. 5 -- The 12 Traditions -- That A.A. may survive.
DISCUSSION NO. 1 THE ADMISSION
a. The careful reading and re-reading of the Big Book. b. Regular attendance at weekly group meetings. c. Study of the Program. d. Daily practice of the program. e Reading of helpful printed matter on Alcoholism. f. Informal discussion with other members.
* * *
STEP NO. 1 "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol -- that our lives had become unmanageable."
This instruction is not a short-cut to A.A. It is an introduction -- a help -- a brief course in the fundamentals.
In order to determine whether or not a person has drifted from "social drinking" into pathological "alcoholic" drinking it is well to check over a list of test questions, which each member may ask himself and answer for himself.
We must answer once and for all these three puzzling questions --
What is an Alcoholic? Who is an Alcoholic? Am I an Alcoholic?
To get the right answer the prospective member must start this course of instruction with --
1. A willingness to learn. We must not have the attitude that "you've got to show me." 2 An open mind. Forget any and all ideas and notions we already have. Set our opinions aside. 3. Complete honesty. It is possible -- not at all improbable -- that we may fool somebody else. But we MUST be honest with ourselves. And it is a good time to start being honest with others.
SUGGESTED TEST QUESTIONS
1. Do you require a drink the next morning? 2 Do you prefer to drink alone? 3. Do you lose time from work due to drinking? 4. Is your drinking harming your family in any way? 5. Do you crave a drink at a definite time daily? 6. Do you get the inner shakes unless you continue drinking? 7. Has drinking made you irritable? 8. Does drinking make you careless of your families welfare? 9. Have you harmed your husband or wife since drinking? 10. Has drinking changed your personality? 11. Does drinking cause you bodily complaints? 12. Does drinking make you restless? 13. Does drinking cause you to have difficulty in sleeping? 14. Has drinking made you more impulsive? 15. Have your less self-control since drinking? 16. Has your initiative decreased since drinking? 17. Has your ambition decreased since drinking? 18. Do you lack perseverance in pursuing a goal since drinking? 19. Do you drink to obtain social ease? (In shy, timid, self-conscious individuals.) 20. Do you drink for self-encouragement? (In people with feelings of inferiority.) 21. Do you drink to relieve marked feelings of inadequacy? 22. Has your sexual potency suffered since drinking? 23. Do you show marked dislikes and hatreds since drinking? 24. Has your jealousy, in general, increased since drinking? 25. Do you show marked moodiness as a result of drinking? 26. Has your efficiency decreased since drinking? 27. Has your drinking made you more sensitive? 28. Are you harder to get along with since drinking? 29. Do you turn to an inferior environment since drinking? 30. Is drinking endangering your health? 31. Is drinking affecting your peace of mind? 32. Is drinking making your home life unhappy? 33. Is drinking jeopardizing your business? 34. Is drinking clouding your reputation? 35. Is drinking disturbing the harmony of your life?
If you answered YES to any ONE of the Test Questions, there is a definite warning that you may be alcoholic. If you answered YES to any TWO of the Test Questions, the chances are that you are an alcoholic.
If you answer YES to THREE or more of the Test Questions you are definitely AN ALCOHOLIC.
NOTE: The Test Questions are not A.A. questions, but are the guide used by Johns Hopkins University Hospital in deciding whether a patient is alcoholic or not.
In addition to the Test Questions, we in A.A. would ask even more questions. Here are a few --
36. Have you ever had a complete loss of memory while, or after drinking? 37. Have you ever felt, when or after drinking, inability to concentrate? 38. Have you ever felt "remorse" after drinking? 39. Has a physician ever treated you for drinking? 40. Have you ever been hospitalized for drinking?
Many other questions could be asked, but the foregoing are sufficient for the purpose of this instruction.
* * *
ASK QUESTIONS
No question pertaining to drinking -- or stopping drinking -- is silly or irrelevant. The matter is TOO SERIOUS. Any questions we ask may help someone else. This is not a short-cut to A.A. It is an introduction -- a help -- a brief course in fundamentals. In A.A. we learn by questions and answers. We learn by exchanging our thoughts and our experience with each other.
WHY DOES AN ALCOHOLIC DRINK?
Having decided that we are alcoholics, it is well to consider what competent mental doctors consider as the reasons why an Alcoholic drinks.
1. As an escape from situations of life which he cannot face. 2. As evidence of a maladjusted personality (including sexual maladjustments). 3. As a development from social drinking to pathological drinking. 4. As a symptom of a major abnormal mental state. 5. As an escape from incurable physical pain. 6. As a symptom of constitutional inferiority -- a psychopathic personality. For example, an individual who drinks because he likes alcohol, knows he cannot handle it, but does not care. 7. Many times one cannot determine any great or glaring mechanism as the basis of why the drinker drinks; but the revealing fact may be elicited that alcohol is taken to relieve a certain vague restlessness in the individual incident to friction between his biological and emotional make-up and the ordinary strains of life.
The above reasons are general reasons. Where the individuality or personality of the alcoholic is concerned these may be divided as follows --
1. A self-pampering tendency which manifests itself in refusing to tolerate, even temporarily, unpleasant states of mind such a boredom, sorrow, anger, disappointment, worry, depression, dissatisfaction, and feelings of inferiority and inadequacy. 'I want what I want when I want it" seems to express the attitude of many alcoholics toward life. 2. As instinctive urge for self-expression, unaccompanied by determination to translate the urge into creative action. 3. An abnormal craving for emotional experiences which calls for removal of intellectual restraint. 4. Powerful hidden ambitions, without the necessary resolve to take practical steps to attain them and with reluctant discontent, irritability, depression, disgruntledness and general restlessness. 5. A tendency to flinch from the worries of life and to seek escape from reality by the easiest means available. 6. An unreasonable demand for continuous happiness or excitement. 7. An insistent craving for the feeling of self-confidence, calm and poise that some obtain temporarily from alcohol.
WE ADMIT
If, after carefully considering the foregoing, we ADMIT we are an alcoholic we must realize that --
It is the experience of A.A that once a person becomes a pathological "alcoholic" drinker, he can never again become a controlled drinker; and -- from that point on, is limited to just two alternatives:
1. Total permanent abstinence. 2. Chronic alcoholism with all of the handicaps and penalties that it implies. In other words -- we have gone past the point where WE HAD A CHOICE.
All we have left is a DECISION to make.
WE RESOLVE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
1. WE MUST CHANGE OUR WAY OF THINKING. (This is such an important matter that it will have to be discussed more fully in a later discussion.) 2. We must realize that each morning, when we awake, we are a potential drunkard for that day. 3. We resolve that we will practice A.A. for the 24 hours of that day. 4. We must study the other eleven Steps of the Program and practice each and every one. 5. Attend the regular Group Meeting each week without fail. 6. Firmly believe that by practicing A.A. faithfully each day, we will achieve sobriety. 7. Believe that we can be free from alcohol as a problem. 8. Contact another member BEFORE taking a drink -- NOT AFTER. Tell him what bothers us -- talk it over with him freely. 9. Work the Program for OURSELVES ALONE -- NOT for our wife, children, friends or for our job. 10. Be absolutely honest and sincere. 11. Be fully open minded -- no mental reservation. 12. Be fully willing to work the Program. Nothing good in life comes without work.
CONCLUSION TO DISCUSSION No. 1 - STEP 1
1. Alcoholics are suffering from a three-fold illness, mental, physical and spiritual. Fortunately we in A.A. have learned how it may be controlled. This will be shown in the next eleven Steps of the Program). 2. We can also learn to be FREE from alcohol as a problem. 3. We can achieve a full and happy life without recourse to alcohol. 4. Success will be achieved in proportion to our active participation in all phases of A.A.
ASK QUESTIONS
Don't be just a listener -- be a VOICE -- you help yourself and you help others by your contribution to the meeting.
ASK QUESTIONS GIVE YOUR VIEWPOINT
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.
The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for A.A. membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. A.A. is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
* * *
GOD grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
The material contained herein is merely an outline of the admission phase of the program and is not intended to replace or supplant--
