Step 7 Prayer Became Her Mantra – Carla R.

About This Speaker Tape

GSRD - 2013

A childhood spent as a 'new kid on the block' in Southern California led Carla R. into a life of street walking in San Francisco mental hospitals and a cycle of violence and addiction. She describes the 'alcoholic torture' of drinking and thinking about drinking a period where she lost her daughter and her job in one fell swoop. After a series of crashes she found a neighbor who offered a Big Book and a path out. Even in sobriety she faced a brutal home invasion and rape using the program to navigate the trauma and the courtroom. Now she finds peace in the simple things—making coffee for meetings dancing the rumba and the 'goldfish mentality' of her pit bull Sammy—proving that a dark past can be a possession rather than a burden.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Carla R. opens with a nod to the 'Mecca of AA' in Southern California.
• 5:45 Laughter: Discussion on 'self-seeking' versus 'people-pleasing' in childhood.
• 12:10 Recounting the 'career path' that opened up in North Beach, San Francisco.
• 18:40 Description of the 'scream without a mouth' feeling in the mental hospital.
• 25:15 The 'alcoholic torture' cycle: drinking and thinking about drinking.
• 32:20 Step 8 and 9: The search for a man from her past and the symbolic transformation of the neighborhood.
• 41:10 The moment of bottom: losing her daughter and her job in one fell swoop.
• 48:30 First contact with the Big Book via a neighbor with five years of sobriety.
• 55:10 The 'coffee commitment': finding purpose in the small jobs of the meeting.
• 1:02:15 The trauma of the home invasion and the subsequent trial.
• 1:12:40 Discussion on the 7th Step prayer and the 'recipe for forgiveness' on page 67.
• 1:22:10 Closing thoughts on the 'goldfish mentality' and the bliss of the present moment.