The Peanut Butter Sobriety Sandwich – Don C.

About This Speaker Tape

A pine tree clinging to a rock in the Garden of the Gods, half-dead and skeletal—that was Don C. in the wreckage. He describes his drinking as a boxing match against a fighter in black trunks named Alcohol. For years, Don took the hits, blinded by a charisma that whispered, "You can whip me," while his family watched from the front row until they finally walked out. He crawled out of the arena multiple times, only to return and get dropped again, staring at Alcohol's tennis shoes.

Recovery arrived through the "touch of love"—Netashniha—and a sponsor named Big Frank, a scarred man who treated Don like a puppy to be teased. Frank offered a "peanut butter sobriety sandwich," a basic but honest way to stay clean. Through a rigorous, line-by-line dissection of the Big Book and a five-column inventory, Don finally faced the dark crannies: the childhood abuse he'd hidden and the walls he built to keep the world at bay.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Don C. introduces himself and explains the Mohican concept of netashniha (connectedness).
• 5:15 Ceremony: Don C. uses sage and an eagle feather to facilitate connection among the group.
• 11:30 The boxing match metaphor: Don C. describes his fight with Alcohol.
• 22:10 Turning point: A fall at the Garden of the Gods leads to a plea for help from the Creator.
• 26:40 First meeting: Don C. describes his first experience with AA on Tejon Street.
• 32:15 Sponsorship: Don C. meets Big Frank and describes the rigorous requirements of his early sobriety.
• 45:20 Step 5: Don C. discusses the freedom found in admitting his history of sexual abuse.
• 55:10 Step 6 & 7: The metaphor of the cake in the ovenu2014letting the Higher Power bake the defects.
• 1:05:00 The Medicine Wheel: Mapping the 12 Steps to the four cardinal directions.
• 1:15:00 The Wellbriety movement and the journey of the sacred hoop.