A Walk Through The Steps With Roy T1 Step 1

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A Walk Through The Steps with Roy T – May/June 2020

Foreword
As AA’s globally responded to the lockdown due to the pandemic with virtual
meetings, a meeting now known as the ‘ESH & Beyond Online Meeting’ originated
in Mumbai, India on 22 March 2020 with the intent to provide the fellowship in
India with sharing’s focused on the pillars of recovery; the steps. To that end we
invited speakers from all over the world to share their ESH.

This 12 Step Workshop was facilitated by Roy T., during the peak of the lockdown
in May and June 2020, over a 3 week period. 100 participants (our limit) logged in
every night and many more were left waiting in the waiting room unable to get in.
Newcomers, chronic relapsers, as well as folks who hadn’t had a drink in years (but
hadn’t worked their steps 😊) actively engaged in this workshop and reported
positive results.

So we decided to use these recorded sessions and PDF’s to compile this workbook.
Many more virtual groups have sprung up and to our amazement, folks report using
these shares and worksheets to carry this message to people in different
Indian languages and even in other countries!!! Please send an email to
Roy T. roytellis@outlook.com
Aneesh I. aa.aneesh.maverick@gmail.com Or
Girish M. giriaamen@gmail.com if we may be of assistance.

We look forward to meeting you soon on the road of happy destiny. May God bless
you and keep you until then!

~ The RAG team (Roy, Aneesh, Girish)

Workshop Presented and Recorded @ ‘ESH & Beyond Online Meeting’ Mumbai, India
A Walk Through The Steps with Roy T – May/June 2020
Preparation for Step 1 Please read FROM page 0 (the 1st blank page of the big book 🙂), the title page, the
preface, all the forewords 1 2 3 4, the doctors opinion and TO pg 16 (the end of Bills Story) -- please underline
or highlight any words or sentences that you identified with ..

Step One
WE admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become
unmanageable.
Understanding PHYSICAL POWERLESSNESS:
If while drinking, I am unable to control … I am PHYSICALLY POWERLESS

1. When can I start taking the steps?


Pg. 58- “If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it - then you
are ready to take certain steps.”

2. What are these certain steps?


Pg. 59/60 – “Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or
others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood
Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to
alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.”

3. Who is the ‘we” that they’re talking about? Pg. xiii "WE, OF Alcoholics Anonymous, … hopeless
state of mind and body.”

4. What do ‘they” have? Pg. 15 “The joy of living we really have, … which has not been overcome
among us.”

Workshop Presented and Recorded @ ‘ESH & Beyond Online Meeting’ Mumbai, India
A Walk Through The Steps with Roy T – May/June 2020
5. How do I know I can get what they have?
Pg. 153 “It may seem incredible … is still with us. Our own recovery proves that!”

6. How do I know whether I have a drinking problem?


Pg. 44 “If, when you honestly want to … you are probably alcoholic.”

7. Have you tried any of these methods of control or stop your drinking? Pg. 31 “Here are some of the
methods … list ad infinitum.”.

8. Have you tried any method not listed above?


Add your own methods 😊___________________________________________________________

9. Is there any other method to find out if you can stop or control your drinking?
• Pg. 31-32 “...you can quickly diagnose yourself … honest with yourself about it.”

• Pg. 33 “Certain drinkers … inability to stop.”

• Pg. 34 “If anyone questions … most of them within a few weeks.”

10. Why have these methods to stop or control drinking failed?


Pg. xxviii “We believe, and so suggested … astonishingly difficult to solve.”

11. Who are these alcoholic types? Pg. xxx


• “There are, of course, the psychopaths who are emotionally unstable. We are all familiar with this
type. They are always “going on the wagon for keeps.” They are over-remorseful and make many
resolutions, but never a decision.
• There is the type of man who is unwilling to admit that he cannot take a drink. He plans various
ways of drinking. He changes his brand or his environment.
• There is the type who always believes that after being entirely free from alcohol for a period of time
he can take a drink without danger.
• There is the manic-depressive type, who is, perhaps, the least understood by his friends, and about
whom a whole chapter could be written.
• Then there are types entirely normal in every respect except in the effect alcohol has upon them.
They are often able, intelligent, friendly people.”

12. What do these alcoholic types have in common?


Pg. xxx “All these, and many others … apart as a distinct entity.”

Workshop Presented and Recorded @ ‘ESH & Beyond Online Meeting’ Mumbai, India
A Walk Through The Steps with Roy T – May/June 2020
13. Who are these ‘many others’?
• Pg. 108 “One: Your husband may be only a heavy drinker ... become true alcoholics after a while.”
• Pg. 109 “Two: Your husband is showing lack of control, … “He wants to want to stop.”
• Pg. 109 “Three: This husband has gone much further … be quite hopeful of a situation like this.”
• Pg. 110 “Four: You may have a husband of whom you completely despair …Yet they got well.”

Is there a medical solution?


• Pg. xxx “….among physicians … alcoholics are doomed.”
• Pg. xxx “It has never been … suggest is entire abstinence.”
• Pg. 31 “Physicians who are … it hasn’t done so yet.”

14. Who is this doctor giving this information?


Pg. xxv “Convincing testimony must surely come from medical men who have had experience with the
sufferings of our members and have witnessed our return to health … gave Alcoholics Anonymous
this letter (William D. Silkworth, M.D.)

Understanding MENTAL POWERLESSNESS AND UNMANAGEABILITY:


If when I have stopped drinking I am unable to stay stopped and my unmanageability causes my mind to give
me permission to drink again … I am MENTALLY POWERLESS (As we will outline below,
unmanageability is the condition that happens to me when I am sober before I pick up the drink)

15. What about willpower? Can I use that to control or stop drinking?
• Pg. 7 “Best of all, I met a … remains strong in other respects.”
• Pg. 24 “The fact is that most alcoholics … becomes practically nonexistent.”

16. So why do I keep drinking after the doctor has given me this information? Where is the main
problem?
Pg. 23 “Therefore, the main problem … than in his body.”

17. What does my mind make me think and do?


• Pg. 23 “There is the obsession that … they will beat the game.”
• Pg. 24 “If these thoughts occur … ourselves like other people.”
• Pg. 30 “The idea that somehow … every abnormal drinker.”

18. What is so important about this mental state?


Pg. 35 “So we shall describe some … the crux of the problem.”

Workshop Presented and Recorded @ ‘ESH & Beyond Online Meeting’ Mumbai, India
A Walk Through The Steps with Roy T – May/June 2020
19. What causes this mental state of unmanageability (mental, emotional, financial, etc.)?
Pg. 52 “We were having trouble with personal relationships,
we couldn’t control our emotional natures,
we were a prey to misery and depression,
we couldn’t make a living,
we had a feeling of uselessness,
we were full of fear,
we were unhappy,
we couldn’t seem to be of real help to other people”

20. What does the unmanageability do to me?


Pg. xxviii “They are restless, irritable and discontent (R.I.D.)”

21. What is my solution to R.I.D.?


Pg. xxviii “...unless they can again experience a sense of ease and comfort … impunity.”

22. How often will we keep doing this?


• Pg. 30 “Therefore, it is not surprising … gates of insanity or death.”
• Pg. xxix “After they have succumbed … little hope of his recovery.”

23. Is there any hope for me?


Pg. xxix “On the other hand—and strange … follow a few simple rules.”

24. What are these rules?


Pg. 59-60 The 12 Steps—as listed earlier.

25. WHEN DO I START WITH THE STEPS?


Some people say we should wait a while some time before doing the steps. How long should I wait?
a. Pg. 95 “Sometimes a new man … This is sometimes a mistake.”
b. Pg. 95 “Ask him to read this book … whether he wants to go on.”
c. Pg. 58 “If you have decided you want what we have … certain steps.”

26. Ok I am ready – so how do I take the two parts of Step 1?

Pg. 44 Regarding Powerlessness:


“If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, (Yes or No?)
or
if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, (Yes or No?)
you are probably alcoholic.”

Workshop Presented and Recorded @ ‘ESH & Beyond Online Meeting’ Mumbai, India
A Walk Through The Steps with Roy T – May/June 2020
Pg. 52 Regarding Unmanageability:
“We were having trouble with personal relationships, (Yes or No?)
we couldn’t control our emotional natures, (Yes or No?)
we were a prey to misery and depression, (Yes or No?)
we couldn’t make a living, (Yes or No?)
we had a feeling of uselessness, (Yes or No?)
we were full of fear, (Yes or No?)
we were unhappy, (Yes or No?)
we couldn’t seem to be of real help to other people.” (Yes or No?)

Our experience was that we sat quietly and reviewed the drinking experiences of our lives with respect to the
above questions of powerlessness and unmanageability. Please note that the Big Book does not ask us to write
any stories or essays, they just ask us to follow the instructions below:

Pg 30 “We learned that we had to fully concede to our innermost selves that we were
alcoholics. This is the first step in recovery. The delusion that we are like other people, or
presently may be, has to be smashed.”

MY THOUGHTS OR NOTES ON MY 1st STEP EXPERIENCE

Workshop Presented and Recorded @ ‘ESH & Beyond Online Meeting’ Mumbai, India

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