Everything is a learning experience. That’s something I’ve learned.
This first meeting was no exception. I had no idea what to expect. My sponsor and his wife were there. The rest of who was there were basically all people I have known my entire sobriety. Many of them had much more time than me. Of course the thought crossed my mind that they might not think they can learn from me.
There was well over 200 years of sobriety in the room.
But they were there.
And they knew it was my meeting (so to speak).
The conversation was good.
The basic topics were, about making decisions when we’re faced with more than one, and it isn’t easy or obvious how to choose.
This was a step 10 issue. So we read from Pages 86-87 in the big book, and we read from step 10 in the 12 & 12.
Then we talked about what you do when you make one of those choices and it blows up in your face.
This was step 10 and 11. We take a spot check inventory. We check out motives. We look at what we did, and if we did something wrong, we acknowledge it, and make any amends needed.
Step 10 doesn’t say that you write an inventory, but it also doesn’t say that you can’t or shouldn’t. That I believe is an individual choice and it depends on the situation. Sometimes it’s clear you need to make an amends, and you make it. Other times a bit more reflection is needed, and you may need to check with someone for guidance.
Then in step 11 we learn to pray and meditate. We listen for the answers in our meditation. Most importantly we get in the habit of meditating, if we aren’t already. This way it will work better in the situations where we need it.
After the meeting I spoke with a few of the people.
The consensus?
It went well, but I need to tighten up the format.
You can find the new format here:
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