What can you not do in AA?

What A.A. Does Not Do

• Recruit members or furnish initial motivation for alcoholics to recover.
• Keep membership records or case histories.
• Follow up or try to control its members.
• Make medical or psychological diagnoses or prognoses.
• Provide hospitalization, drugs, or medical or psychiatric treatment.

What does the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous say about expectations?

In the Big Book of AA we find where it says: Expectations are Premeditated Resentments. When you find yourself feeling resentment, you can almost always trace it back to your expectations. So, what’s important is to keep all expectations at a realistic level.

What are living amends?

A “living amends” means a promise to keep working to heal the relationship. For example, maybe you used to steal money from your mother to pay for alcohol or drugs; maybe you made countless promises to her that you didn’t keep, from promising to fix or clean something around the house to going to a family gathering.

How do you make proper amends?

There are steps you take to make amends, which include:

1. Take stock of the damage you caused.
2. Express the desire to repair it.
3. Admit to your mistakes.
4. Find a way to repair the damage.
5. Be patient about getting someone’s trust back.

What are AA outside issues?

Tradition 10: Alcoholics Anonymous (and Al-Anon) has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy. As Al-Anon’s preamble to the twelve steps and traditions says, “Al-Anon is not allied with any sect, denomination, political entity, organization or institution.

What the Big Book says about acceptance?

From page 417 of The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous: And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. A.A. and acceptance have taught me that there is a bit of good in the worst of us and a bit of bad in the best of us; that we are all children of God and we each have a right to be here.

What does making amends mean in AA?

Merriam-Webster defines making amends as “to do something to correct a mistake that one has made or a bad situation that one has caused.” When you make amends, you go further than just saying “I’m sorry.” You acknowledge your errors, then take action to make up for what has happened in the past.

How do you respond to AA amends?

How Do You Forgive the Addict in Your Life? 8 Tips for Accepting Amends

1. Understanding Addiction.
2. Make an Effort.
3. Recap Lessons Learned.
4. Don’t Wait.
5. Ask for Help.
6. Don’t Keep Score.
7. Assess Your Emotions.
8. Give Yourself Time.

Why is making amends important?

Making amends is part of the process of not only seeking forgiveness from others, letting them know how sorry we are, but also in working to forgive ourselves. Self-forgiveness is a crucial part of recovery. Without it, we are likely to fall into our same old patterns in order to cope with the pain.

What is the purpose of making amends?

Think of amends as actions taken that demonstrate your new way of life in recovery, whereas apologies are basically words. When you make amends, you acknowledge and align your values to your actions by admitting wrongdoing and then living by your principles.

What is an AA meetings?

Meetings have always been a way of carrying the message of the solution to alcoholism, first through the Oxford Group, which was a precursor to Alcoholics Anonymous and whose program the Steps are based on, and then through AA itself. This is well-documented in Ernest Kurtz’s incredibly thorough book Not God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Is it OK to use non-AA Approved literature in AA meetings?

Answer: Yes, it is OK to read from “non-AA” literature in an AA meeting unless your group decides to use “conference approved” literature only. Groups are under no obligation to adopt such a restriction. When talking about whether a book is “AA approved” the question is often this: “Is the book General Service Conference approved literature?”

Does AA oppose the reading of other religious books?

A.A. as a whole does not oppose these, any more than A.A. disapproves of the Bible or any other publications from any source that A.A.’s find useful. What any A.A. member reads is no business of G.S.O., or of the Conference, naturally.

Who are we of Alcoholics Anonymous?

This is the approach that our Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous suggests. In the Forward to the First Edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous, it defines an A.A. member as: “WE, OF Alcoholics Anonymous, are more than one hundred men and women who have recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body.”