Joe & Charlie AA Speakers - Part 8 - Working the 4th Step - AA Big Book Workshop

Don’t Let Me Meet God With Alcohol on My Breath - AA Speaker - Grant P.

Grant hit the end of half-measures with one desperate thought: he didn’t want to meet God with alcohol on his breath. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Grant shares a funny, painful, and deeply honest AA talk about growing up alone in a rigid military home, losing his athletic future to a brain tumor, taking his first drink at 17, and slowly crossing the line from controlled drinking into hiding beer in spare tires, wrecking cars, damaging his family, and trying to manage alcoholism his own way. He talks about white-knuckling, coming to AA, continuing to drink between meetings, and finally reaching the kind of pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization that made him willing to do whatever it took. Grant also shares powerful moments from recovery: hearing that God would not bring him into a room with the answer just to deny it to him, finding a sponsor, taking the steps, making peace with his father, discovering the truth about his childhood, and becoming a man who could love, forgive, and be useful. Grant P. from St. Paul, MN sharing his story at the St. Paul open speakers meeting in St. Paul, MN - January 2007 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

At the Christening of AA - AA Speaker - Paul K.

Paul says he was not there at the birth of Alcoholics Anonymous, but he was there at the christening. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Paul K. shares an old-school AA talk with 46 years of sobriety, reflecting on early Alcoholics Anonymous, Dr. Bob, the Oxford Group influence, the Four Absolutes, sponsorship, surrender, inventory, amends, traditions, and the spiritual simplicity he saw in the fellowship’s early days. He talks about coming into AA when it was already “in place and working,” being sponsored through direct action, taking the Third Step on his knees in front of the group, using honesty, unselfishness, purity, and love as guides for inventory, and learning through painful amends that restitution could become an act of love. Paul also speaks tenderly about his wife, their shared sobriety, and Dr. Bob’s final message to keep the program simple: love and service. Paul K. from Akron, OH speaking at the Deep South AA Convention in New Orleans, LA - April 8th-10th 1988 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

The Invisible Rowboat - AA Speaker - Arnor K.

Arnor says AA can feel like an invisible rowboat: it may not make sense at first, but you still have to get in and row. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Arnor K. shares a sharp, funny, and unconventional AA workshop talk on carrying the message, working with newcomers, and why intensive work with other alcoholics became the missing piece of his own sobriety. He talks about coming into AA angry, defensive, and unimpressed, reading the Big Book to find loopholes, learning from people who did not want to do the work but did it anyway, and discovering that sobriety was not just about fixing himself. Arnor digs into Chapter 7, the practical meaning of “intensive work with other alcoholics,” the difference between sounding like an expert and gaining a drunk’s trust, why perfection is not required to help someone, and how the recipe of AA only comes alive when it is actually baked into action. It is a restless, funny, thought-provoking talk about getting off the receiving end of AA and becoming part of the work. Arnor K. from Oslo, Norway speaking about carrying the message at the June NOLA workshop in New Orleans, LA - June 28th 2015 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

The Dry Drunk Cometh - AA Speaker - Deandre M.

DeAndre thought he already knew enough about the first three steps. His sponsor heard two sentences and saw the dry drunk coming. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter DeAndre, sober since May 29, 1991, shares a funny and direct AA talk about sponsorship, connection, accountability, and the danger of trying to run the show alone. He talks about leaving psych rehab, meeting his first sponsor Dennis, thinking he had already handled the first three steps, and slowly learning that real sponsorship meant letting another alcoholic see through his fear, resentment, secrets, and self-deception. DeAndre gets into the “stomach steps” of four through nine, looking for cosigners instead of direction, drifting from a sponsor, coming back, sponsoring others, staying available without playing God, and why helping another alcoholic keeps his sobriety from feeling shallow. Deandre M. from Lancaster, CA speaking at the 12 suggestions meeting in Hermosa Beach, CA -  June 21st 2006 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Joe & Charlie AA Speakers - Parts 9 & 10 - Steps 5-12 - AA Big Book Workshop

In the finale of the Joe & Charlie Founders' Day series, the written inventory becomes admission, willingness, amends, daily practice, and a message carried to someone else. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode Archive More AA speaker tapes and recovery stories: https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise Merch Shirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear: https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise Newsletter Weekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates: https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter In this final combined session, Joe and Charlie take the Fourth Step inventory into Steps Five through Twelve. They explain why self-appraisal alone is not enough, how admitting the exact nature of our wrongs begins clearing away what has blocked us, and how willingness in Step Six leads to the humility of Step Seven. From there, they move into the amends process, including becoming willing, making direct amends carefully, and allowing changed conduct to repair the past. Joe and Charlie then show how Steps Ten and Eleven keep inventory, prayer, and meditation active in daily life before bringing the workshop home with Step Twelve. The result of the first eleven Steps is a spiritual awakening, but the responsibility that follows is just as important: practicing these principles and carrying the message to the next alcoholic. Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Parts 9 & 10: "Steps 5, 6, 7, & 8" and "Steps 9, 10, 11, & 12" Music: Deep by KaizanBlu