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Backup 2022 Sessions by Date

12 Steps Together
ZOOM Meetings: Wednesdays 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM PST MEETING ID: 892-5293-1366           PASSWORD: Surrender Click this LINK to join our meeting! Surrender School Phone List If you want to be on the list or need information updated – contact wendy@wclash.com

 

January 26th: Session A – GETTING STARTED: FOOD FIRST

 


February 2nd Session B – BEGINNING OF BIG BOOK AND DR’S OPINION

  • Have your Big Book available for this session
  • Video of Session B
  • Meet with your sponsor to discuss the beginning of the Big Book and the Dr.’s Opinion.

 

  • Homework After Session B in prep for Session C
    1. Read Bill’s Story from the AA Big Book
    2. Listen to Special Editions podcasts from A Vision 4 You website
    1.  

 
February 9th – Session C – BILL’S STORY

 

 
February 16th – Session D – THERE IS A SOLUTION, MORE ABOUT ALCOHOLISM

  • Questions for chat during our ZOOM session:
      • What in your life makes you believe that abstinence is “but a beginning”?
      • How do you know that you are willing to accept spiritual help?
      • Think of some of the illusions and Delusions that have drawn you back to the food- How were those smashed in your life?
      • How do you know, personally, that there is a spiritual solution?
  • Video of Session D 
  • Meet with your sponsor to discuss There is a Solution and More About Alcoholism.

 

  • Homework After Session D in prep for Session E
    1. Read Chapter 4, We Agnostics from the AA Big Book:
    2. Listen to We Agnostics by Lawrie C. Special Edition podcast from A Vision 4 You website:
    3. (Optional) Read A Study Guide for Overeaters: Step Two 

 
February 23rd – Session E – WE AGNOSTICS

  • Questions for chat during our ZOOM session:
      • When have you felt your HP’s presence? 
      • Why do you now believe that GOD is everything?
  • Video for Session E
  • Meet with your sponsor to discuss We Agnostics and to introduce your Step 3 writing assignment. See #5 below.

 

  • Homework After Session E in prep for Session F
    1. Read AA Big Book: Chapter 5, How it Works through page 63.
    2. (Optional) Read A Study Guide for Overeaters: Step Three.
    3. (Optional) Read AA 12 & 12: Step Three.
    4. Listen to Special Editions podcasts from A Vision 4 You website:
    5. Using first person and writing in a way that speaks to you, rewrite or type the AA Big Book pages 60 starting with “(a) That we were alcoholic and could …” through the end of the Third Step Prayer on page 63, ending with “May I do Thy will always!” One example appears below.
  1. I am a compulsive overeater, and I cannot manage my own life.
  2. No human power can relieve me of my compulsive overeating.
  3. GOD can and will if I seek God.
  Being convinced that I’m at Step Three, I am deciding to turn my will (my thinking) and my life (my actions) over to the care of GOD as I understand GOD. Just what do I mean by this, and what should I do? The first requirement is that I be convinced that my life run on self will is not successful. On this basis, I am always in collision with something or somebody, even though my motives are good. I’m trying to live by self-propulsion. I’m like an actor who wants to run the whole show. I’m forever trying to arrange the lights, the ballet…
    1. Read what you have written to four OA members.
    2. It has been said that the first three steps of the program can be summarized as “I can’t. God can. I think I will let God.” What do these statements mean to you?

 
March 2, 2022 – Session F – HOW IT WORKS

  • Questions for chat during our ZOOM session:
      • What are some of your old ideas that you now let go of absolutely?  Page 58, 3rd paragraph
      • What does it mean to you to abandon yourself utterly to your HP?  Page 63, paragraph 2.
  • Video of Session F
  • Meet with your sponsor to;
    1. Discuss How it Works up through page 63
    2. Tell your sponsor how sharing your sharing Step 3 writing assignment impacted you.
    3. Pray the Step 3 prayer.

 

  • Homework After Session F in prep for Session G
    1. Listen to Special Edition podcast from the A Vision 4 You website: How it Works by Harlan G.
    2. (Optional) Read A Study Guide for Overeaters: Step Four.
    3. Read AA Big Book: Chapter 5, “How it Works,” pages 63-71.
    4. (Optional) Read AA 12 & 12: Step Four
    5. Print and staple together one Resentment Form, one Character Defect Sheet (CDS), and one Fear Form to create a 3-page packet. You should have one packet for each of your resentments.
    6. Before you begin writing, ask your Higher Power for guidance about
      • what should be included in your inventory
      • what you need to learn during this process
    7. Write your resentments. Please disregard the multiple lines for each column, and write about only one resentment per 3-page packet. Use as many packets as necessary. Focus on your current issues. If you have already worked the steps, don’t bring up past issues you have already processed, unless they are still troubling you.
    8. For each packet, fill out “The causes” (column 2) for each resentment, again disregarding the multiple lines. Keep “The causes” column to 20 words or fewer (if possible), and utilize bullet points for multiple items.
    9. Fill out “Affects my” (column 3) by checking which of your instincts are affected for each resentment. (View a completed resentment form).
    10. Print out the Prayer Sheet. For each resentment, say the resentment prayer or the offended prayer in a way that works for you.
    11. Read the following passage from the AA Big Book, page 67:

 

Referring to our list again. Putting out of our minds the wrongs others had done, we resolutely looked for our own mistakes. Where had we been selfish, dishonest, self-seeking and frightened? Though a situation had not been entirely our fault, we tried to disregard the other person involved entirely. Where were we to blame? The inventory was ours, not the other man’s.
    1. Turn to the CDS attached to each resentment. Use a highlighter to emphasize phrases that show how you have been selfish, dishonest, inconsiderate, etc. To further explain your part, add detailed notes. View this completed CDS (page1, page2).

Notice on page 65 in the Big Book that each resentment contains an associated “fear.”

    1. For each resentment packet, turn to the Fear Form. In the first column, answer the questions, “What am I really afraid of? What is my core fear?”
    2. Ask yourself, “Why do I have this fear?”  Keep it short (20 words or fewer).
    3. Mark the appropriate responses for columns 3 and 4. Say the Fear Prayer in a way that works for you.
    4. Write out what GOD would have you be in column 6. Some people find the following meditation helpful: “If my Higher Power were to communicate directly to me regarding this issue, what might my higher power say?”  Pause and listen for any communication that may comes to you, and write whatever comes. If nothing comes to you, at this time, that’s ok. (This practice is know as Two-Way Prayer). View a completed Fear Form.

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU COMPLETED ALL OF YOUR RESENTMENTS!

March 9, 2022 – Session G – HOW IT WORKS

  • Video of Session G
  • Homework After Session G in prep for Session H
    1. Print out and complete additional Fear Forms, one for each fear you have that has no associated resentment. Make sure you follow the directions on the Fear Form, working from top to bottom to complete columns 1-5. For column 6, see #15 above.
    2. Print out as many Sex Conduct Forms as you need.
    3. Complete each form according to the directions on the top. You may want to use the Sex Inventory Sheet to help you
    4. For the Harms Done Inventory, please print another Sex Conduct Forms, just cross out “Sex Conduct” and write “Harms Done”
    5. As you complete the Harms Done Inventory, modify the prayers so they are more meaningful to you. Examples of harms done include the following:
      • You scratched someone’s car and never told them.
      • You owe someone money.
      • You stole food from your roommate.
      • You gossiped about someone at work.
    6. Ask your Higher Power if you left anything out, or if there is something you have decided you are taking to your grave. Now is a beautiful opportunity for you to trust the process, turn your secrets over to your higher power, and let them go. Please write them on your Harms Done Inventory and be free.
    7. Call all your sponsor, make an appointment for Step 5  and AA BIG BOOK: Chapter 6, “INTO ACTION,” pages 72-76.

March 16, 2022 – Session H – Steps 5, 6, 7

      • Make sure you have a copy of the CDS and a copy of the Prayer Sheet with you.
      • Discuss your inventory with your sponsor.
      • Turn to page 75 in the Big Book and begin reading the second paragraph, “We pocket our pride…”
      • Once we have taken Step 5, withholding nothing, we experience the following promises, inspired by page 75 in the Big Book.
        • We are delighted.
        • We can look the world in the eye.
        • We can be alone at perfect peace and ease.
        • Our fears fall from us.
        • We begin to feel the nearness of our Higher Power (HP).
        • We begin to have a spiritual experience.
        • We get the feeling that our compulsive eating problem has disappeared.
        • We feel we are on the Broad Highway walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe.
      • Discuss with your sponsor about whether or not you have received these Step 5 promises. If you have not, it is likely you left something off your inventory and need to revisit it. Spend time asking your HP for guidance about what might be missing. After addressing the missing items, make another appointment with your sponsor to complete your 5h Step. If you have received the promises, follow the directions in the last paragraph on page 75 in the Big Book.
    1. Step 6: Read and discuss the first paragraph on page 76 of the Big Book with your sponsor.
    2. Step 7: When ready, kneel, stand, or assume a position meaningful
    3. to you and pray the 7th Step Prayer found on page 76 of the Big Book (or use words of your own choosing).

March 23, 2022 – Session I – Steps 8, 9

  • Video of Session I 
  • Homework After Session I in prep for Session J
    1. Clean house with the family: Complete an additional Harms Done Inventory (The same as you did in Step 4):
      • Read the AA Big Book: Beginning on page 76, third paragraph, “Now we need more action…” through the first paragraph on page 84 ending with “They will always materialize if we work for them.”
      • Read the AA Big Book: Beginning on page 82, second paragraph, “If we have no such complication…” through the first paragraph on page 83 ending with “Creator show us the way of patience, tolerance, kindliness, and love.”
      • Go to each member of your household and ask how you have been like a tornado roaring through their life (or use words of your own choosing). Ask them if you have any selfish or inconsiderate habits that have impacted them. If it is helpful, you may read the third paragraph on page 82 of the Big Book to them.
      • Fill out a Harms Done Inventory for each of the items that people have brought to your attention.
    2. Listen to Our Side of the Street: The Amends Process, a Special Edition podcast from the A Vision 4 You website.
    3. Read A Study Guide for Overeaters: Step 8, Step 9.
    4. Read AA 12 & 12: Step 8, Step 9.
    5. Use the Step Eight and Nine List worksheet.We will not be making direct amends to everyone on this worksheet. Rather, this worksheet enables us to become clear about our part and harms done.
      • Column 1: Transfer all people, principles, and institutions from your Resentments, Sex, and Harms Done inventories. Put them on this list whether you believe you caused harm or not.
      • Column 2: Before you begin writing, ask your Higher Power for guidance to help you understand your part. Describe what you did to cause harm, the story you told yourself, or the judgements you made in each instance. Completely fill out column 2 (column 2 has a rectangle around it in this example) before moving to column 3.
      • Column 3: Ask your Higher Power for guidance as to whether an amends is needed—if so, what type: direct apology, restitution, public acknowledgement and/or living amends. Ask your Higher Power for further guidance as to how to proceed. Write down the specifics.
      • Column 4: Ask your Higher Power to help you discern whether making each amends may cause harm to others. Mark either “Yes” or “No.”
      • Column 5: Indicate how ready you are to make each amends.
    1. Make an appointment with your sponsor to go over the Big Book reading (pages 76 – 84). Discuss your worksheet and potential amends with your sponsor.
    2. Read the paragraph below:

The purpose of Step 8 is to become entirely willing to make amends. There might be some amends you will not or cannot make face to face. Your sponsor will help you sort those out. The amends process is for you to make things as right as possible without causing more harm. Written amends should be very simple, direct, honest, and concise. 

    1. Using your Step Eight and Nine List worksheet, keeping in mind the guidance you received from your Higher Power, use the following procedure for each person to whom you owe direct amends. Write your own words on a 3×5 index card. If you need to make more than one amends to the same person, use a separate index card for each amends.

FORMULA:

        • State the incident.
        • Determine the character defects involved. Using the Character Defect Sheet (CDS).
        • Express your regret.
        • Ask how you can right the situation.

EXAMPLE:

        • “When I was young, I did not understand you needed your own time and space. I withdrew.”
        • This was selfish and inconsiderate of me.
        • I deeply regret how this has impacted our relationship.
        • What can I do to make it right?

    1. After completing all your index cards, one by one, check in again with your Higher Power for any further guidance regarding additions or changes to each amends.
    2. Review and, if necessary, revise each of your amends with your sponsor.

  CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE COMPLETED STEP 8. LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT STEP 9.

    1. Read the following Step 9 tips:
      • The Big Book suggests when making amends, “We attempt to sweep away the debris which has accumulated out of our effort to live on self-will and run the show ourselves. If we haven’t the will to do this, we ask until it comes.” (page 76)
      • For each amends, we ask our Higher Power’s guidance for what to say. We follow the Big Book’s directions. We go to each person (or institution) in a helpful and forgiving spirit.
Under no condition do we criticize such a person or argue… We tell him that we will never get over our drinking until we have… straightened out the past. We… sweep off our side of the street realizing that nothing can be accomplished until we do so. His faults are not discussed. We stick to our own. (Big Book, page 77) If someone does throw us out of his office, we have made our demonstration, done our part. It’s water over the dam. (Big Book, page 78)
      • Read the Big Book, page 79.
      • Don’t forget to check out each amends with your sponsor before making it.
      • We can prepare for making an amends by doing the following:
        1. Read and try to memorize the amends. You may be able to recite some amends from memory; for others, you may be too emotional. So, take your index card(s) with you.
        2. If you are going to read your amends, tell the person you are going to read it because you want to make sure you say it well. Making amends to close family and friends can be a deeply emotional experience.
        3. Remember to make amends to one person at a time, and pray before and after making amends to each person.

 
AFTER YOU HAVE MADE YOUR FIRST STEP 9 AMENDS, YOU ARE READY TO MOVE ON TO STEP 10! Continue cleaning up the past by making the rest of your amends. After you make a few amends, read the Step 9 Promises (Big Book, page 83) and see if they have begun to come true for you. “They will always materialize if we work for them.” If these promises are not coming true, you might need to look for some unfinished business.

March 30, 2022 – Session J – Steps 8, 9

When these (character defects) crop up, we ask God at once to remove them. We discuss them with someone immediately and make amends quickly if we have harmed anyone. Then we resolutely turn our thoughts to someone we can help. Love and tolerance of others is our code. (Big Book, page 84)
    1. DOING A TENTH STEP: In the course of any normal day, we tend to experience the buildup of human emotions. This is a fact for all of us. The 10th Step process offers us the opportunity to change our old patterns. Now, whenever we are fearful, resentful, or uncomfortable in any way, we pause, write a 10th Step, and go through a defined process. We learn to take our agitation and discomfort to our Higher Power (HP) instead of turning to food. We recommend you do as many 10th Step procedures per day as required to maintain your emotional sobriety. Writing a 10th step is working Steps 4-9 on a single item. First we go through the entire 10th Step process with our HP. The main purpose of the 12 Steps is to rely on a Power greater than ourselves—in other words, to develop God-dependence. After we give our 10th Step to our Higher Power, we share it with a fellow OA member. The first time you share a 10th Step, it may be helpful to share it with your sponsor. Though there are many effective ways to do a 10th Step, the procedure below is one effective method.
      1. Just like you did for Step 4: Make multiple 3-page resentment packets by printing and stapling together one Resentment Form, one Character Defect Sheet (CDS), and one Fear Form.
      2. Make sure you have a Prayer Sheet on hand.
      3. Choose something that is bothering you and complete a 3-page packet for this issue.
      4. Ask your Higher Power if you owe an amends, and if you do, what that needs to be.
      5. Let your sponsor (or fellow OA member) know that you are ready to share your 10th Step.
      6. Share your 10th Step:
        • Begin with the 3rd Step prayer (or words of your own choosing).
        • Read your 3-Page packet just as you did when sharing your 5th Step.
        • State if you owe an amends and what specifically it will be.
        • Tell what actions you will take to help someone (e.g., make an outreach call, be of service to a family member).
        • End with the 7th Step prayer (or words of your own choosing).
      7. Have Fear Forms on hand for times when your emotional disturbance is fear-based without a resentment attached.


ANY TIME YOU FEEL UNEASY FROM NOW ON, COMPLETE A 10TH STEP AND RESTORE YOUR EMOTIONAL SOBRIETY. Continue adding people to a growing list of fellows with whom you can share your 10th Steps. You may want to consider joining a 10th Step group. 


April 6, 2022 – Session K – Step 10

Step 11 offers us the opportunity to seek constantly through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with our Higher Power.
    1. The Big Book guides us through Step 11 on pages 85-88. We are taught how to improve our conscious contact with GOD by using prayer and meditation on awakening, throughout the day, and at night. The only wrong way to do prayer and/or meditation is not to do it at all. Some people find it helpful to use the  Step 11 Prayers and Meditations Page in the Study Guide for Overeaters. For the Nightly Inventory, answer these questions (Big Book, page 86):
      • Were we resentful?
      • Were we selfish?
      • Were we dishonest?
      • Were we afraid?
      • Do we owe an apology?
      • Have we kept something to ourselves which should be discussed with another person at once?
      • Were we kind and loving toward all?
      • What could we have done better?
      • Were we thinking of ourselves most of the time?
      • Or were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life?

    1. Each night, send a copy of your completed Nightly Review to your sponsor. This Nightly Review replaces your daily email to your sponsor. If you are sending your sponsor your food, include it at the end of this email.

A helpful method for completing a Nightly Review/Nightly Inventory and emailing it to your sponsor is by using the My OA Toolkit app. From Google Play or Apple Store, download My OA Toolkit (it looks like the icon to the left). You may also use a computer by going to the login page for myspiritualtoolkit.com and changing the “*Type”: to My OA Toolkit (OAT).  You will have to register to use the Toolkit. Feel free to start using My OA Toolkit or myspiritualtoolkit.com to fill out the Nightly Review/Nightly Inventory Don’t worry if you feel clumsy at first. Your experience will improve. Just keep working at it. Eventually, you will feel comfortable. CONGRATULATIONS! YOU ARE ARE NOW READY TO CONTINUE IMPROVING YOUR CONSCIOUS CONTACT WITH YOUR HIGHER POWER!

 

April 13 2022 – Session L – Step 11

  • Video of Session L 
  • Homework After Session L in prep for Session M
    1. Listen to Special Edition podcast from A Vision 4 You website: Working with Others by Marcela M.
    2. Read:
      1. AA Big Book: Working with Others.
      2. AA 12 & 12: Step 12.
      3. A Study Guide for Overeaters: Step 12.
    3. In the Forward to the Second Edition of the AA Big Book, we read together that “Strenuous work, one alcoholic with another, was vital to permanent recovery.” We also read, “Practical experience shows that nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics. It works when other activities fail” (Big Book, page 89).
    4. Step 12 is about throwing yourself into working with others. Here are some suggestions to help you develop your plan for sponsoring others:
      1. Listen to A.A. Back to Basics: Steps 1-3, and 10-12.
      2. Search out and listen to other A Vision 4 You Special Editions on any topic that interests you.
      3. Call other recovered sponsors that you particularly appreciate and ask them how they sponsor. You may want to come up with some questions to guide the conversation. Here are some example questions:
          • How many sponsees do you work with at any one time?
          • How often do you speak with/meet with your sponsees?
          • How do you handle a sponsee who eats some of their red/yellow light foods while working the Steps? 
          • What other advice do you have about sponsorship?
      4. Locate and review the Food Slip Inventory found on the Surrender School website. 
      5. The strategy below (A-F) may be used for working with a sponsee that picks up their alcoholic foods.
          1. Ask your Higher Power for the right words to most lovingly address the situation with your sponsee.
          2. Tell your sponsee to pause their step work for three days, while they abstain from all their alcoholic foods and behaviors and allow their mind to clear.
          3. Have your sponsee complete a Food Slip Inventory
          4. Suggest that your sponsee call 4 recovered members and ask each one about their favorite or most important part of the Dr.’s Opinion and what they do to prevent relapse.
          5. When your sponsee has three days of abstinence meet with them to discuss the Food Slip Inventory
          6. and what they learned from other members.
          7. Suggest that your sponsee resume their step-work.
          8. If your sponsee picks up multiple times, ask your Higher Power for guidance and read the paragraph below.

    Do not be discouraged if your prospect does not respond at once. Search out another alcoholic and try again. You are sure to find someone desperate enough to accept with eagerness what you offer. We find it a waste of time to keep chasing a man who cannot or will not work with you. If you leave such a a person alone, he may soon become convinced that he cannot recover by himself. To spend too much time on any one situation is to deny some other alcoholic an opportunity to live and be happy. (Big Book, page 96)

    CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE WORKED ALL 12 STEPS. YOU ARE READY TO LIVE IN STEPS 10, 11, AND 12 ON A DAILY BASIS.

April 20, 2022 – Session M – Step 12

  • Video of Session M (Coming Soon)

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