Good morning and happy Monday. Hope this finds you with a little peace, a hot cup of something, and a few minutes to ease into the week with some good recovery stories and Big Book wisdom.
This Week's Episodes
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This Is Where Dead People Come to Life - AA Speaker - Daniel E. Daniel E. - Morrilton, AR 1,013 views Hitting Bottom Step 4 - Resentments & Inventory Step 5 - Admission Daniel shares a funny, raw talk about getting sober young after alcohol and drugs led to blackouts, jail, and rage. He describes his first drink removing anxiety, the daily chase for the perfect level, and the morning he asked God for help or death - which led to detox, treatment, and three AA members who carried a message real enough to give him hope.
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Any Fool Can Quit Drinking - AA Speaker - Michael M. Michael McK. - Kalispell, MT 449 views Step 1 - Powerlessness Step 4 - Resentments & Inventory Steps 8 & 9 - Making Amends Michael knew he was alcoholic for twelve years before AA, but the part that changed his life was learning what came after putting the drink down. He shares a direct talk centered on Step One and the unmanageability that remained after alcohol was removed, walking through years of drinking in private, blackouts, time behind bars, and hospitalizations before finally asking for the compulsion to be removed.
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God Is Whatever Got You to Those People - AA Speaker - Karl M. Karl M. - Texas, TX 290 views Step 3 - Surrender Step 1 - Powerlessness Step 4 - Resentments & Inventory Karl called his father, a minister and theologian, expecting him to explain God. His father gave him a much shorter answer: God is whatever got you to those people, so do what they say. Karl shares how meetings, the book, and service became recovery in action after landing in treatment under military threat.
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It Was Never the Lack of What I Am - AA Speaker - John V. John V. - Moncton, New Brunswick 282 views Step 1 - Powerlessness Step 2 - Higher Power Step 3 - Surrender John arrived at his first AA meeting at 28 after seven years on Skid Row, unable to read or write, interested mainly in the free coffee and donuts. A lawyer's welcome and a Step meeting with an unlikely friendship changed everything, teaching him that honesty, faith, and the Steps could help him stop fighting himself.
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I Was Stone Cold Sober and Stark Raving Mad - AA Speaker - Steve L. Steve L. - Reykjavik, Iceland 186 views Step 4 - Resentments & Inventory Step 5 - Admission Sponsorship Steve attended meetings almost every morning for 100 days, but without a sponsor or the Steps, he was stone cold sober and slowly losing his mind. At 100 days, alone on a business trip and mentally unraveling, he stood over a hotel minibar before making an elaborate plan to disappear using 13 old passports.
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Joe & Charlie AA Speakers - Part 5 - More About Alcoholism - AA Big Book Workshop Joe & Charlie - Laughlin, NV 150 views Step 1 - Powerlessness Step 2 - Higher Power Big Book Study In Part 5 of the Joe & Charlie Founders' Day series, Joe and Charlie explore the mental blank spot that makes the first drink possible again. They walk through More About Alcoholism and explain why knowledge alone does not protect the alcoholic from another first drink, using Big Book examples to show how the alcoholic can be sane in every other area and still have no effective mental defense.
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Joe & Charlie AA Speakers - Parts 6 & 7 - We Agnostics & How It Works - AA Big Book Workshop Joe & Charlie - Laughlin, NV 90 views Step 2 - Higher Power Step 3 - Surrender Big Book Study In Parts 6 and 7 of the Joe & Charlie Founders' Day series, willingness becomes action as We Agnostics leads directly into How It Works and the Twelve Steps. Joe and Charlie explain why the Big Book does not demand a particular religion or perfect belief, but instead asks whether the alcoholic can become willing to seek a power greater than human power.
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Joe & Charlie AA Speakers - Part 8 - Working the 4th Step - AA Big Book Workshop Joe & Charlie - Laughlin, NV 12 views Step 4 - Resentments & Inventory Big Book Study Sponsorship In Part 8 of the Joe & Charlie Founders' Day series, Joe and Charlie break down the Fourth Step inventory in detail, using the Big Book's business inventory comparison to explain why the work is written, factual, and practical. They walk through resentments, fears, harms, and the instincts that get threatened, showing how these can block a person from God and why the inventory is not about punishment.
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Paul O. - Everett, WA Paul, sober since 1967, shares a funny AA talk about being a doctor who couldn't diagnose his own alcoholism. After physical symptoms and a psychiatric hospitalization, he attended AA to satisfy his psychiatrist, then discovered that laughter, the Steps, and fellowship reached him despite his resistance.
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My Dark Past Became My Greatest Possession - AA Speaker - Mark B. Mark B. - Orlando, FL 3,943 views this month Mark spent years blaming war, prison, violence, and fear for the way he drank, until alcohol stopped working and AA showed him the problem had been deeper all along. He shares a raw and funny AA story about growing up in Massachusetts, finding relief in his first drink at 14, and carrying fear through Vietnam, psychiatric hospitals, jails, prisons, and homelessness before discovering a spiritual solution in the program.
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Step of the Month: Step 6 Step 6 asks us to get honest about the parts of ourselves that still cling to old ways, and to become willing to let go. That willingness does not have to feel perfect or dramatic; sometimes it just shows up as a quiet, steady "I am ready for something different." Chris S. used to avoid the serious AA people until he hit a point where there was no door number three, and then he went looking for the very people he once called fanatics. Chris S. shares how a life that started with a 14-year-old waking up in a sand trap ended in prison, and how getting willing changed everything. Related Episodes: |
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Stats for Nerds You all clocked 6,366 watch hours this week. Thats roughly how long it would take to fly from New York to Tokyo more than 40 times, minus the jet lag. |
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From the Grapevine Latest from the AA Grapevine podcast
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One day at a time. You're not alone.