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12 Step Big Book Guide It only takes 4 hours to learn 'how it works' and a life

12 Step Big Book Guide It only takes 4 hours to learn 'how it works' and a lifetime to practice it! Big Book Sponsorship Guide http://www.bigbooksponsorship.org 2 Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………………… 3 Essentials of Recovery………………………………………………..…………………… 5 Step 1………………………………………………………………………………………. 7 Step 2………………………………………………………………………………………. 10 Step 3……………………………………………………………………………………… 11 Step 4……………………………………………………………………………………… 13 Step 5……………………………………………………………………………………… 19 Step 6……………………………………………………………………………………… 21 Step 7……………………………………………………………………………………… 22 Step 8……………………………………………………………………………………… 23 Step 9……………………………………………………………………………………… 24 Step 10……………………………………………………………………………………. 27 Step 11……………………………………………………………………………………. 29 Step 12……………………………………………………………………………………. 31 Summary………………………………………………………………………………….. 32 Big Book Sponsorship Guide http://www.bigbooksponsorship.org 3 Introduction Beginners' Meetings were held throughout the U.S. and Canada during a period of time when A.A. witnessed 50-75 percent recovery rates from alcoholism. Newcomers quickly learned "How It Works". They had conversion experiences, discovered a new way of living without alcohol or drugs and carried this message of hope to others. After completing the steps, newcomers, to ensure their own sobriety, helped others through the Steps and led the Beginners' Meetings. Ruth R., an old-timer in Miami Florida, who came into AA in 1953, gave some insight into the demise of the "Beginners' Classes". Ruth recalled that the classes were discontinued in the mid- 1950s as the result of the publication of the book "Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions" by Alcoholics Anonymous Publishing Inc. In the Miami area the "Twelve and Twelve" replaced both the "Big Book" and the "Little Red Book" and "Step Studies" replaced the "Beginners' Classes". In the process, the period for taking the Steps was expanded and modified from 4 weeks to somewhere in between 12 and 16 weeks. The Fourth Step inventory was modified and became a much more laborious and detailed procedure. What was originally conceived as a very simple program, which took a few hours to complete, evolved into a complicated and confusing undertaking requiring several months. Studying the Steps is not the same as taking the Steps. In the "Beginners' Classes" you take the steps. The Big Book says, "Here are the steps we took" not "here are the steps we read and talked about." The AA pioneers proved that action, not knowledge, produced the spiritual awakening that resulted in recovery from alcoholism or addiction. Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. (AA p. 58, 4th ed.) Big Book Sponsorship Guide http://www.bigbooksponsorship.org 4 Of alcoholics who came to A.A. and really tried, 50% got sober at once and remained that way; 25% sobered up after some relapses, and among the remainder, those who stayed on with A.A. showed improvement. Other thousands came to a few A.A. meetings and at first decided they didn't want the program. But great numbers of these--about two out of three--began to return as time passed. (AA p. xx, 4th ed.) You are going to become a teacher! Our primary purpose is to work the steps and teach others how to teach others how to work the steps. We connect suffering addicts to recovered addicts who guide newcomers through a personalized one on one study of the original, undiluted 12 step program described in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. We substitute terms and phrases related to alcoholism to include ANY obsessive compulsive addiction patterns such as, cocaine and all mind altering substances, gambling, sex, self-harm or injury, food, anorexia, bulimia, sugar, smoking, co- dependency etc. and anyone can certainly increase this list and all are welcome. Our format quotes extensively from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous (2001. 4th ed. Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc. New York.), our basic text for recovery. Our notes, commentary, and gender-neutral changes are formatted in italics. This format can be conducted in one half day or in four, one-hour sessions. For further study, it is suggested that everyone get a copy of the "Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous. Big Book Sponsorship Guide http://www.bigbooksponsorship.org 5 Essentials of Recovery Three Ingredients We find that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality of the program. Willingness, honesty and open mindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these are indispensable. (AA p. 568 4th ed.) Willingness means____________________________________ Honesty means_______________________________________ Open-mindedness means________________________________ Our job is to explain our approach and win their confidence But the ex-problem drinker (addict or obessive-compulsive personality) who has found this solution (our recipe), who is properly armed with facts about them self, can generally win the entire confidence of another alcoholic (addict) in a few hours. Until such an understanding is reached, little or nothing can be accomplished. That the person who is making the approach has had the same difficulty (lack of control), that they obviously know what they are talking about, that their whole deportment shouts at the new prospect that they are a person with a real answer, that they have no attitude of Holier Than Thou (we are not saints nor are we crusaders or mission makers), nothing whatever except the sincere desire to be helpful; that there are no fees to pay (big book sponsorship is free) , no axes to grind (we're not here to have windy arguments or frothy debates with you), no people to please (no "ass-kissing") , no lectures to be endured (we are not here to judge or run your life) these are the conditions we have found most effective. After such an approach many take up their beds and walk again. (AA p. 18-19) Big Book Sponsorship Guide http://www.bigbooksponsorship.org 6 Does your prospect want to quit If they do not want to stop drinking (using, acting out in a obsessive-compulsive behavior), don't waste time trying to persuade them. You may spoil a later opportunity. (AA p. 90). If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it -- then you are ready to take certain steps. (AA p. 58). What does "go to any lengths" look like? _________________________________________________________________________ We, in our turn, sought the same escape with all the desperation of a drowning person. (AA p. 28) (Are you desperate - yes-no?) Ask them (newcomer) if they want to quit for good and if they would go to any extreme to do so. (Are you willing to thoroughly follow the Big Book instructions - yes-no?) I, __________________________________________, am willing to go to any lengths to recover from my addiction/s. If they say yes, then their attention should be drawn to you as a person who has recovered. (p. 90 A.A. 4th Edition) Tell them enough about your drinking (using or acting-out) habits, symptoms, and experiences to encourage them to speak of themselves. (AA p. 91) Tell them how baffled you were, how you finally learned that you were sick. Give them an account of the struggles you made to stop. Show them how the mental twist which leads to the first drink (toke, hit, bet, puff, bite, cut, care, act, etc.) of the spree. (AA p. 92) Big Book Sponsorship Guide http://www.bigbooksponsorship.org 7 Step 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol (drugs, sugar, acting out behaviour i.e. sex, gambling, codependency), that our lives had become unmanageable. Self-Diagnosis Men and women drink (use or act-out) essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. (drugs, sugar, acting out behaviour i.e. sex, gambling, codependency) (Is this your experience - yes-no?) The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious (Is your behaviour hurting you - yes-no?), they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic (addict) life seems the only normal one. They are restless, irritable and discontented, unless they can again experience the sense of ease and comfort which comes at once by taking a few drinks--drinks (hits, puffs, bites, bets, acts, cuts, etc, ) which they see others taking (doing) with impunity. After they have succumbed to the desire again, as so many do (Is this your experience - yes-no?), and the phenomenon of craving develops, they pass through the well-known stages of a spree, emerging remorseful, with a firm resolution not to drink (use or act-out) again (Is this your experience - yes-no?) This is repeated over and over (Is this your experience - yes-no?), and unless this person can experience an entire psychic change there is very little hope of his recovery. (AA. p. xxviii 4th ed.) Moderate drinkers (users) (type 1) have little trouble in giving up liquor (substances, obsessive-compulsive behavior) entirely if they have good reason for it. (Do you have a good reason for stopping - yes-no?) They can take it or leave it alone. (Can you take it or leave it alone- yes-no?) Then we have a certain type of hard drinkers (heavy users) (type uploads/Geographie/ guide-sponsorship 1 .pdf