Sheets of Sobriety August 2020
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Sheets of Sobriety August 2020 [email protected]
IN THIS ISSUE
But For the Grace of God: What this AA Slogan means to you
Interview with an "Old-Timer": 27 years of sobriety
Your Submissions: AA Fellowship
SOS Funnies: Joke overload!
History of AA: Remembering the roots of AA
Committee Announcements: Indianapolis Intergroup will be meeting in August via Zoom
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Topic Time: Finding Hope in AA
Your responses as to what this slogan means to you!
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But for the grace of I was headed down a God go I...... no dark and deadly path judgement! bc it’s and God stepped in to only by Gods grace stop me. that I’m not where that person is and I could be at any time I would be totally if I don’t stay screwed but for the spiritually fit. grace of God. I don't
know why I have been so blessed but I sure I have been saved am grateful. several time by the grace of God
How I'm alive, while so many close to me Willingness is an have passed, I'm not attitude that can sure. But I am change every persons blessed to still be life forever here. God has given
me grace and mercy, and when I've I would still be accomplished what I drunk, homeless, in signed up for in this that state of life, he will bring complete me home. And I won't demoralization, know exactly what it hopelss state of mind is until then. and body BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD
That moment of clarity or window of Only by the grace of opportunity. That was God grace. The fact that https://us15.campaign-archive.com/?u=e88c06528c4f4f9f727842ddf&id=ed50db5b3f[8/9/2020 11:08:52 AM] Sheets of Sobriety August 2020
I'm still here is mercy. I'm alive
Humility "that could've been me, but God chose differently" God gave me a gift I did not deserve
I couldn't figure this out of my own, God's grace was but the grace of God always there I just made a way for me to had to find the be shown. willingness to accept
it Gods Grace is something he bestows upon us but based on I am only here now by our past behavior we God’s Grace and mercy are not deserving of. Example You pray for
a new job which you get despite having His will not mine been fired from the last jobs because you showed up drunk. Gods To me it means don't grace allowed this to judge other happen. alcoholics for their f Ed up lives and choices. I was The piece of God in blessed with my us that isn't our moment of clarity and will. that I had the
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support and ability to have it take hold and keep me sober. To stay humble and There, but for the not judge...to Grace of my Higher believe that God is Power, go I. It could doing for us what we have been me. I'm cannot do for eternally grateful ourselves and that it's not. maybe just maybe all will be well.
We be fucked...... but by There but for "grace Gods grace. We be of God go I" in unfucked. reference to another individual active in Some one write that their addiction.... down
And that I am no God reached into that better or worse than dark scary place I any other person, was at in my life and that if I hadn't pulled me back into surrendered and the light of love. picked up the kit Even when I didn’t laid at my feet I'd deserve it. be worse than I ever was. I'm no one to judge. And I'm humbly Grace is the walking in a new way undeserved favor of of life so freely God that let me live! given.
If I hadn't accepted There go I. a new life shown by https://us15.campaign-archive.com/?u=e88c06528c4f4f9f727842ddf&id=ed50db5b3f[8/9/2020 11:08:52 AM] Sheets of Sobriety August 2020
God's light, I'd still be the person I sometimes it means was. Good orderly Direction to me..the
grace of
By his mercy I am Good walking Orderly
Direction
But for the Twelve Steps, jails, institutions and death would be my fate. Sometimes a miracle is what didn't happen to you!!
Indy Online AA Meetings
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Interview with an "Old-Timer"
Interview with an Old-Timer John- D.O.S. 03/21/93
1. Why did you come to AA? How did you get
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here? How did you know you were powerless over alcohol? I first came to AA in 1988 after flunking out of college, drinking more and more daily and after a failed suicide attempt and after my 21st birthday. My psychiatrist helped me understand that if I was always drunk when I was in trouble, it might be that I needed to stop drinking if I wanted to stop being in and having trouble. My dad was in AA already so the door to it had been propped open by his success. I knew I was powerless over alcohol for sure was when I had relapsed, gone out for a good six month binge, and woke up in my tub covered in vomit with no idea how I’d made it home.
2. What was your first meeting like? I remember little about my first meeting in 1988, other than it was in a dark church basement in Boston on Newbury Street, just across the street from where I had begun to work and that I heard, “Don’t Drink, Go to Meetings, and Ask for Help.” That has stuck with me over 32 years later.
3. What was the most memorable thing someone did or said to you and your first years of sobriety? Not sure that I remember anything specific that stuck with me in the early days, mostly because I think I killed too many brain cells. But I do remember what I wrote in #2.
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4. Why have you stayed and why do you keep coming back? I have stayed, and I keep coming back because I am 100% positive if I don’t, I’ll get drunk again, somehow- someday. It’s in AA where I have found happy, joyous, and free from the pain that my drinking caused me.
5. What does Hope mean to you? Hope is the belief that it can always get better, even if only a little bit. It means that if I can make it through today, sober, I've won, and I've built one more arch in the foundation that will help keep me sober.
6. What does fear mean to you? Fear is such a powerful and real fear in my life, and I’m so bummed that it still is the case these many years later. I like the phrase “False Evidence Appearing Real,” because it reminds me that much of my fears are imaginary and made up by me- not freed in me. Which means if I use my tools to deal with it, I can overcome it and “Face Everything And Recover.”
7. Have you had a spiritual awakening? Tell me about it. I think I have had many spiritual awakenings, with perhaps the strongest one when I completed my 5th Step and when I felt https://us15.campaign-archive.com/?u=e88c06528c4f4f9f727842ddf&id=ed50db5b3f[8/9/2020 11:08:52 AM] Sheets of Sobriety August 2020
I had finally completed my 9th Step. I felt the presence of my Higher Power in a very real way on both occasions. I think I had one too when I had my first 5th Step as a sponsor. It was so real and powerful to be trusted with such a personal moment. And I have them at meetings all the time as I listen to others share their success, pain, fear, hope- all the elements of their sobriety.
8. What was your hardest amends? My hardest amends was to my wife, who had never seen me drunk but experienced all of the character defects that I'd never worked to remove by working the steps for the first 6 years or so that we knew each other.
9. Tell me about how you work steps 10 and 11? Not well. I try to review my day before going to sleep and 10 if I had any amends to make- then I wake up the next day, find something to be grateful for, thank God for it, ask for help to stay sober, and make the amends at some point in the day.
10. What is the best advice you would say to a newcomer?
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Don’t Drink Go to Meetings Ask for Help Get a Sponsor
Submit your story - [email protected]
For me, the fellowship is what keeps me engaged and coming
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back to the rooms of AA. Whether someone has 1 day or 30 years of sobriety, every member and every share is equally important because there is always something to learn. I know when I walk into a meeting, every person in that room is on my side. They all want me and everyone else there to succeed.
We learn early on that the program has the 12 steps and 12 traditions as our roadmap to recovery. The Big Book helps guide us there. These principles are laid out clearly and concisely and have shown to be tried and true methods to become recovered.
However, it is the fellowship of other members that truly allow these steps and traditions to work. It is an integral part of recovery because it brings a sense of cohesiveness and easement. It is quite an amazing feeling to be able to trust a group of “strangers”. But as we keep coming back to the rooms, these strangers start to become familiar faces. And then they become friends. I am very grateful for all of the friendships I have made in the program.
The fellowship is also an important reminder that I am not alone. I first came into the rooms feeling very alone, isolated, and untrusting. I was having a hard time believing in myself. I was having the most difficult time asking for help. Early on, I attended several meetings a week, mostly just listening to others’ stories. I passed more than I shared. I made a conscious effort to hustle back to my car immediately after meetings so I wouldn’t have to talk to anyone else. I wasn’t ready to give myself fully to the program and I had no desire to make new friends. It was no surprise that I could not stay sober for long and experienced 2 relapses in my first few months.
It wasn’t until I was truly willing to open myself up, directly ask
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for help, and start working with a sponsor that my recovery got serious. I had severely underestimated the power of just talking to another alcoholic. The more I opened up, the less hard I was on myself. I no longer felt like such a failure. This led to more open shares in meetings, staying after to chat with others, and joining extracurricular workshops. I was no longer afraid to pick up the phone and call or text another alcoholic. I was able to get out of my own way and really start to work the steps. None of this would have been possible without the fellowship and support of others.
One meeting I attend regularly closes not with the Lord’s prayer, but with the “Responsibility Statement”. I love this change of tradition because it always makes me pause and appreciate that we are all in this together, striving for similar goals. And this pledge perfectly sums up what the fellowship of AA means to me.
“I am responsible. When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA always to be there. And for that, I am responsible”
~Anonymous
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When I first came into AA I felt alone and afraid. I only hung out with people that drank. Coming to Alcoholics Anonymous, I didn't want to drink anymore but I wasn't sure how to live my life without alcohol.
Thankfully I met so many welcoming women who took me under their wing and eventually we built solid sober friendships like I had never experienced before.
Today I have many great sober friends that support me, help me when I'm struggling, and are always there for fellowship and fun times. And for that I am forever grateful.
Kathy E.
Give us your best recovery joke ~ [email protected]
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What ideas do you have? [email protected]
My AA sponsor told me to stay away from places where I used to drink I just sold my car.
An alcoholic is sitting at a bar He orders two shots. He proceeds to pour out the first one all over the bar, downs the second one and then orders two more. He pours out the first one on the bar, downs the second one and orders two more.
The bartender asks him why he keeps pouring out the first shot all over the bar.
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The alcoholic replies with "My AA group said all I need to do is avoid that first drink."
An alcoholic wakes up in jail. He asks the first police officer he sees, "Why am I here?"
"For drinking," replies the officer.
"Great," says the man, "when do we start?"
Alcoholics don't run in my family
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They stumble around and break stuff
What’s the hardest thing for an alcoholic law student to do? Pass the bar
Why didn't the alcoholic became a comedian? Because he couldn't stand up.
Have something to say? ~ [email protected]
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Notable August Dates In A.A. History
1938 - Akron & NY members begin writing stories for Big Book
August 1, 1939 - Dr. Bob and Sister Ignatia admit 1st alcoholic to St. Thomas Hospital, Akron, Ohio
1941 - Bill writes Dr. Bob to tell him Works Publishing has been incorporated
1941 - 1st AA Meeting in Colorado is held in Denver
1941 - 1st meeting in Orange County, California held in Anaheim
1943 - AA group donates Big Book to the public library in Quincy, MA
1946 - Washington Times-Herald (DC) reports on AA clubhouse, https://us15.campaign-archive.com/?u=e88c06528c4f4f9f727842ddf&id=ed50db5b3f[8/9/2020 11:08:52 AM] Sheets of Sobriety August 2020
to protect members anonymity, withholds address
1954 - 24 Hours a Day is published by Richmond Walker
1981 - -Sales of the Big Book passes 3,000,000
1988 - 1st Canadian National AA Convention in Halifax, Nova Scotia
NOTABLE AUGUST BIRTHDAYS August 8, 1879 - Dr. Bob S. is born in St Johnsbury, Vermont
August 15, 1890 - E. M. Jellinek, Ph.D., is born, author of "The Disease Concept of Alcoholism" and the "Jellinek Curve"
What does your meeting look like? Send us pics! [email protected]
Committee Announcements
Intergroup for August 9, 2020 will be via Zoom at 9:30 am Meeting ID : 894 4432 6346 Meeting Password: 1j!GXq
Sheet Of Sobriety (S.O.S.) Committee – Assembles articles and submissions for publication from Indianapolis A.A. Members, Intergroup Committee
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Chairs, and the Central Office Manager for the monthly newsletter; Sheets Of Sobriety (S.O.S.). Publications provided digitally via email subscription and on the www.indyaa.org, both free of charge. Looking for someone who is good with computer graphics. Always needing stories, funnies, and anything else you want to share! [email protected]
Archives Committee – Collects, categorizes, displays, and protects the historical A.A. documents and memorabilia of Indianapolis Intergroup. Need help during business hours. [email protected]
Did you write a song about recovery? Send it to us ~ [email protected]
Receive the SOS monthly in your email. SUBSCRIBE HERE
TOPIC TIME
Topic Suggestion for August Finding Hope in AA!
How did you find your way out of active drinking?
Share your Experience, Strength, and Hope regarding the topic for the September Edition of S.O.S. Submissions are not limited to the suggested topic and we encourage you to write about any topic as it relates to
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Alcoholism for any month.
Submissions for September are due by August 25th. Any submissions received after August 25th may be included in later Editions. Please submit to [email protected] and title your email "Newsletter Submission". Please keep all submissions around 700 words or less. Include a title for your submission where applicable. If no title is included, we may provide one for you. If you wish to be published anonymously, DO NOT include your name in your document and please write "post anonymously" in your email submission to SOS. If you wish for your name or initials to be published, please write it at the end of your submitted document exactly as you would like it published. If no indication of intent has been made, your submission will automatically be posted anonymously. Please note, only first names, first name and last initial, or initials only, will ever be published. We will never post last names even if you submit them.
We look forward to hearing from you!
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