Peter M and Chris S – May 2022 Workshop – Part 6 of 7 – 2022 – Chris S.

About This Speaker Tape

Peter M and Chris S - May 2022 Workshop - 2022

Disneyland injected into the eye with a turkey baster—that's how Chris S. describes the sensory overload of a 1970s New York City concert trip gone wrong. He recalls the reckless 'Mr. Misadventure' years where drugs and alcohol blurred the lines of sanity leading to a forty-five-minute struggle to back a van out of the Lincoln Tunnel. Chris pivots from the wreckage to a hard distinction between responsibility and accountability arguing that while the disease drove him he must still answer for the damage. He details the grit of the Ninth Step recounting a sponsee who paid back dozens of convenience stores in legal envelopes of cash. Chris closes with the quiet meditative necessity of current amends including a surprising reconciliation with a childhood friend from the 70s who became his wife after thirty years apart and a misunderstood feud with a former running buddy over a collapsed AA group.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:45 Chris S. introduces himself as 'Mr. Misadventure' and describes his reckless drinking and drug use.
• 2:15 Laughter: The story of the LSD trip at a concert and the struggle with the Lincoln Tunnel.
• 5:10 Discussion on the delusion of the alcoholic and the fact that they are always in more trouble than they think.
• 6:30 The philosophical breakdown of responsibility versus accountability in recovery.
• 8:45 Analysis of 'self-centered fear' and the 'corroding thread' of anxiety.
• 11:00 Discussion on the 6th and 7th Steps and the necessity of becoming willing for a Higher Power to remove defects.
• 14:20 The story of the sponsee who stole cigarettes and the subsequent process of making direct amends with cash envelopes.
• 17:45 Critique of 'fluff' amends and the insistence on 'actually' making direct amends in the 9th Step.
• 20:15 The story of reuniting with Andrea S. after thirty years and their eventual marriage.
• 23:30 The account of making a meditative amends to his wife and the emotional result.
• 25:00 The story of the 'running buddy' and the miscommunication regarding a collapsed AA group.