Service – Adam T. – NCCAA Conference Committee Fundraiser – 2012

About This Speaker Tape

Adam describes a seventeen-year cycle of being the 'perpetual newcomer,' collecting chips like poker pieces while remaining spiritually bankrupt. He details the wreckage of a 'defiant mind'—drinking in AA meetings via 7-Eleven Big Gulps, cycling through treatment 28 times, and the 'grandio or comatose' oscillation of his ego. The turning point arrives not through intellectual study, but through a brutal surrender and the realization that he cannot live without alcohol successfully.

He frames the Traditions as the 'glue' that prevents homicide while the Steps prevent suicide. Adam emphasizes the shift from 'compliance' to 'surrender,' moving from a taker to a giver through H&I work and sponsorship, eventually finding a 'quiet mind and a loving heart' by building his life around the program rather than fitting the program into his life.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Introduction and the concept of gratitude as an action.
• 1:30 Laughter: Discussion of the 'perpetual newcomer' and the poker chips.
• 4:15 Discussion of the need for a Higher Power's help over self-reliance.
• 7:20 Story about drinking in meetings using 7-Eleven Big Gulp cups.
• 9:10 Laughter: The sponsor's comment on paying half a million dollars for a Big Book.
• 13:40 Detailed explanation of the Traditions as the 'glue' and their role in group survival.
• 16:10 Experience with H&I (Hospitals and Institutions) and the 'gift of recovery' journey.
• 19:30 Analysis of Step 1: the difference between the physical allergy and the mental obsession.
• 23:10 Discussion of the 'spiritual malady' and the internal unmanageability of the mind.
• 27:40 The metaphor of the soldier surrendering his rifle as a model for unconditional surrender.
• 32:10 Discussion of the 12 Steps as a roadmap to recreate relationships with Higher Power, self, and others.
• 35:00 Closing thoughts on the 'Eskimo' story and finding a Higher Power through other drunks.