formal step one

[anniemac]

I love hearing about all the different ways that different people go through the Steps. I didn't write anything out for my First Step ... my sponsor told me that simply by coming to AA I had done Step One. However, I've worked with sponsees where I feel it would be better for them to do some writing. I love that there's not one "right" way to go through these Steps.

[musicmode]

Hi all, how's it goin' today?

The only wrong way to do the steps, I was told, is to not do them. I notice a difference in how things go when I don't do step work during the day. It's amazing to me how jumbled and confusing things can get, and the pile builds quickly, leading me to unmanageability. The steps take time, and they are a building process ###progression####, what takes days/weeks/months, etc., to build and repair can take mere hours to unravel back to the beginning, and right back to the negative--negative thought processing, confused, lonely, tired, angry...this, though, keeps me mindful of something else I've heard, that no matter how many 'miles' I get away from that last drink, it's still always only a reach away. The only way to guard and protect against that reach is to do step-work daily, prayer&meditation, contact with other members. I seriously so do not want to go back to the way things were...writing things down, talking things out makes it so that I don't take matters into my own hands so-to-speak, cuz my best thinkin' got where it got me.

When the goin' gets tough, don't think twice,
Pull down your pants & slide on the ice

Nothin' is so today that I need to drink over it. Absolutely nothin'.

Ibeseein'ya,
Anne

[PatchesPal]

does anyone have a suggestion for a formal first step?

The instructions for Step One can be found on Page 30:

"We learned we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were alcoholics. This was the first step in recovery."

This is as 'formal' as it gets. The implication of this concession leaves nowhere to turn but to Step Two.

[GeoffS]

Hey folks,

is this the right place to point out to newcomers that it is also worth reading the 12 by 12 (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of AA) as a companion to your studies of the steps in the Big Book.

It has always been very useful to me and a lot of others I know.

[garden variety]

Hi Geoff,

I'm not sure if there is a "right" or "wrong" place to introduce the new man or woman to the 12 & 12. But I do think that the "perfect step one" as it was defined here in this thread is the most important starting place.

For me, I have a sneaky way of introducing t a protege' to the 12 & 12. We'll be working through the steps and the guy is beginning to get that "gung ho" attitude because he is understanding things better. It's then that I'll see some "intolerance" creeping in. At that time I tell him you need to know about "Rule 62". Now that usually draws a puzzled face.

Then the lead-in is picture perfect for the 12 & 12.

"What the hell is rule 62?"

"It's in the 12 & 12. I forget where."

Then the discussion gets into the benefits of having a 12 & 12. I'll wait until a new man asks for a copy of the 12 & 12 or buys one himself before I start talking about it in greater detail. The Big Book is the thing the new man needs more than anything else.

Now these are just the way I do it. I'm sure it's different for everyone else.

God bless.