You may be interested in what we read in our group meetings if you've found this page.
We have three people read each day. Our group encourages those in their first hours, days, and weeks to read these.
If you want to read, are curious about what we read, or want to read more, here's a general breakdown:
First, What we read in our meetings every day is listed here.
https://www.aa.org/how-it-works
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. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.
Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. 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.
At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.
Remember that we deal with alcohol — cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power — that One is God. May you find Him now!
Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon.
Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Many of us exclaimed, “What an order! I can’t go through with it.’’ Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.
Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:
(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.
(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.
(c) That God could and would if He were sought.
If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are halfway through. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows. Self-seeking will slip away. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change. Fear of people and of economic insecurity will leave us. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.
Are these extravagant promises? We think not. They are being fulfilled among us-sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.
There are times we do not have a speaker in this meeting.
When that happens, we use the following literature. If you are new to AA, don't let the size of these books overwhelm you. Just focus on what we are reading today.
The links in this section are online pamphlets: if you attended a brick-and-mortar meeting, you might be given some of these. Since we do not meet in person, we share the pamphlets here. You can find information about how to find aa meetings, what AA is all about, how to tell if you might be an alcoholic, who you might want to consider talking to just starting this journey, what a sponsor is, and who you might ask to be your sponsor. Most importantly, there's help not to drink today, and you can find hope that tomorrow will come without having to take that first drink tonight.
Foundational Topics
What is AA, and how does it work?
Why do we go to meetings
The first step: admitting Powerlessness
Understanding the Twelve Steps
The Importance of Honesty in Recovery
Surrender and Letting Go
One Day at a Time
How to Get a Sponsor
Tools for Staying Sober in the first days
The promises of AA
Connection and Support
Finding a Home Group
Reaching Out: The Power of the Fellowship
The Role of a Sponsor
Being Willing to Ask for Help
Getting through your first meeting
How to talk about feelings without alcohol
Staying Sober through cravings and triggers
What to do when you feel like drinking
Coping with Shame and Guilt
Am I really an alcoholic?
Practical Tools for Daily Recovery
Building a daily routine
Prayer and medication for beginners
Journaling in Early Sobriety
Saying no without guilt
Dealing with family while in recovery
Managing emotional highs and lows
sleep, nutrition, and self-care
Handling anger and frustration
Avoiding old people, places, and things
The HALT method: Hungry, angry, lonely, tired
Growth and Hope
Progress, not perfection
Forgiveness: of self and others
Learning to like yourself again
Finding purpose without alcohol
Making amends (when you are ready)
Faith in a higher power, what does that means to you
turning points in sobriety
Hope through hearing others' stories
How sobriety changes relationships
celebrating milestones, even small ones.