Step 11 Workshop – Part 2 of 3 – 2025 – Peter M.

About This Speaker Tape

Step 11 Workshop - 2025

June 23 1988 marks the day Peter M. stopped drinking though he spent the lead-up living in an abandoned building in Alphabet City New York surrounded by the wreckage of six failed treatment centers. He describes a spiritual life that isn't about 'butterflies and rainbows,' but a gritty daily discipline of prayer and meditation to keep his ego from turning him into 'Rambo' on the I-95. Peter focuses on the tension between the 'doing' and the 'being,' recounting a moment of financial collapse where he felt like a 'loser' while staring at a wealthy man's Rolex and Ferragamo shoes. He views his recovery as a total surrender—a free fall into an abyss where every attachment to money property and prestige had to be pruned away to make room for a Higher Power. He now treats his morning routine as a sacred necessity fearing that if he doesn't get to Higher Power first the 'fool' will take over.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:45 Peter M. shares his sobriety date: June 23, 1988.
• 5:12 Description of hitting bottom: homeless in an abandoned building in Alphabet City, NY.
• 8:40 Discussion on the difference between 'working hard' at the steps and actual spiritual transformation.
• 11:20 Story about Vince D. and the danger of doing everything else before talking to a Higher Power on awakening.
• 14:50 Laughter: The 'meditation contest' among new members.
• 17:10 Reflection on the 'undercurrent of okayness' despite financial hardship.
• 19:45 Detailed account of financial crisis and the 'Rolex and Ferragamo shoes' moment.
• 22:10 The 'aha moment' regarding his business and the need to call his sponsor, Mickey M.
• 24:30 Closing thoughts on the freedom of being 'broken' and the unique nature of the AA fellowship.