The Committee in Your Head and Who Gets the Front Row – Dr. Paul O.

About This Speaker Tape

Dr. Paul O. speaks at the 9th Annual Congressional AA Luncheon in the U.S. House of Representatives, introduced by the Clerk of the House and several distinguished guests. He opens with his trademark humor, roasting the Al-Anons, recounting his 50-year marriage to Max (whom he met at age four next door to his father's drugstore in Alliance, Ohio), and describing how he ended up on the psychiatric ward of his own hospital — misdiagnosed with a brain tumor while his alcoholism went undetected. A loud attorney named Frank dragged him to his first meeting, and Paul spent seven months attending AA while still drinking, insisting he was merely "allergic" to alcohol.

Paul teaches that alcoholism is "contagious — it goes in through your ears," describing how he went to one meeting too many and became an "instant alcoholic." He distinguishes between admitting and accepting alcoholism, explaining that acceptance in the program means accepting the challenge of living life to its fullest despite the condition — not approving of it. He describes the committee of voices in his head, each with its own agenda, and how he learned to coexist with them rather than drowning them out with drugs. At the center of all those competing voices, he says, is a center of calm where his Higher Power lives.

Paul addresses guilt as a defect of character he had to surrender through the Sixth and Seventh Steps, rejecting his childhood belief that a punishing deity enjoyed his self-hatred. His license plate reads "Rule 62" — don't take yourself so damn seriously. He explains that every problem is a thinking problem, that problems have "high infant mortality" if you stop feeding them, and that the choice between victim and hero is available at every moment. He closes with his favorite line from page 132 of the Big Book, centered precisely on the page with 16 lines above and 16 below: "We absolutely insist on enjoying life." If you are not enjoying sobriety, he says, you are not doing it right.

Topics

Timestamps

• 00:00 Opening prayer by House Chaplain Dr. Jim Ford and welcome by Ed Chandler
• 04:30 Clerk of the House Don Andrews on the new Employee Assistance Program
• 10:00 Hal M. introduces Dr. Paul — the Attitude Adjustment Hour and page 449
• 13:30 Paul meets Max at age four next door to his father drugstore in Alliance Ohio
• 18:00 Misdiagnosed with a brain tumor, ends up on the psychiatric ward of his own hospital
• 23:00 Frank the loud attorney drags him to his first AA meeting
• 28:00 Alcoholism is contagious — it goes in through your ears and you get it in an instant
• 34:00 Paralyzed from the ears down at church dinner dances — allergic reaction to alcohol
• 40:00 The ethical doctor who never gave a patient a pill he had not tried on himself first
• 47:00 All problems are thinking problems — problems have a high infant mortality
• 53:00 Five words to be a good listener — yes no wow really and hmm
• 58:00 The committee in his head — all those voices and the center of calm where a Higher Power lives
• 63:00 Guilt as a defect of character — Rule 62 and hugging your demons
• 68:00 Victim or hero — from whiner to winner and living in the answer
• 72:00 Page 132 — we absolutely insist on enjoying life