WEEK 4 - STEP TWO, DAILY SUGGESTIONS
[Notice to reader: before the meeting, give out the daily suggestions cards to those who
are likely to be hearing this for the first time.]
This week we consider Step Two: came to believe that a Power greater than us could restore
us to sanity. The relevant reading for this is Chapter 4 of the Big Book.
If you have difficulty with the idea of an Higher Power, here are some things that
helped us. Ask yourself, as the Big Book tells us, �Am I even willing to believe in a Power
greater than me�? Then you can adopt what you think that a Higher Power might be, and
make a start. Many people adopt the power of AA � whatever you think might be helping all
of us in this group now to stay sober.
Something else that is true for some of us, is that we had a faith when we came to AA,
but struggled to accept that the God we believed in was interested in us and really does want
us to be sober and happy, joyous and free. What we did was to abandon this old, harsh God
and find a new Higher Power that does care for us � again the power of AA would fit the bill
here.
So, ask yourself, as the Big Book tells us: �Do I believe, or am I even willing to believe
that there is a Power greater than myself that can restore me to sanity?� If you can say yes,
then you have taken Step Two.
What do we do now? The experience outlined in the Big Book makes it clear that it is
not enough to believe that there is a Higher Power that can help us. We have to cooperate, to
do certain things that will allow a Higher Power to help us � follow spiritual principles.
That�s what the rest of the steps are about. One of our main suggestions is to get a sponsor.
We had to find someone who had done the steps and seemed happy in his sobriety. When we
had one, we phoned him or her regularly, and for most of us this meant daily calls.
There is a good reason for this daily contact. We have to learn to trust God, or as the
literature says, �follow the dictates of a Higher Power�. Now, the sponsor is not God. But in
many situations in our lives, the application of the principles of the programme is not clear or
very new to us. The sponsor has direct experience of applying these spiritual principles and
the light of this experience can show us how to employ them in our own affairs. It will be
very difficult for us to trust in the programme and the Higher Power unless we can trust our
sponsors first. The daily calls help us to develop that trust through regular contact. We needed
someone from whom we wanted to hear the whole truth, even if sometimes it was difficult to
accept. By following our sponsor�s suggestions and experiencing the change, we start to
understand that spiritual principles are not rules to restrict us, but guidelines for living that
show us how to live a happy life. By practising trust in our sponsor, we learn to trust the
source of these guidelines: the AA programme and the Higher Power.
There is another reason for us to have regular contact with sponsors: as alcoholics our
ability to rationalise dishonesty and selfishness seems at times almost unlimited. We are
champions at hiding a bad motive behind a good. The sponsor can very helpful in showing us
when we are doing this.
Here are the rest of our daily suggestions that are the foundation upon which we build
our progress through the steps. All twelve are often summarised as coming into three
categories:
Trust God; Clean House; Help Others
The first few suggestions come under the heading of Trust God. Now that we have a
Higher Power, we can develop a trust by asking for help and trying to do what is right. Here
they are:
-
In the morning, we pray on your knees to the Higher Power: �Please keep me sober
and look after me today.
-
At night, on your knees again, we thank our Higher Power for looking after us.
-
As already mentioned, we phone our sponsors, who will help us to practise
spiritual principle in all our affairs.
-
We write a gratitude list at the end of each day, and thank our Higher Power for the
gifts given to us. For example: sober, bed to sleep in, roof over my head, food for
today, clothes to wear� and so on. We can write down any little events specific to
that day. We don�t wait to feel grateful before we write them down. Many then
review that list the next day as part of their morning prayers. The gratitude list helps
us to fight self-pity. It is also written evidence of the good things that God is bringing
into our lives. We are being looked after!
- Each day we read the book Alcoholics Anonymous (the Big Book). Try a page or two
each day, more if you want to. It is always good to read the principles of the
programme first-hand to help us in our daily lives and to reinforce our conviction that
what we are being told to do is what the first 100 members did. It is a way of seeing
that the sponsor really is giving us what the book says.
- We read the Just for Today card � this is a useful tool for helping us to practise
spiritual principles.
Next, Clean House: this is a reference to getting rid of the wreckage of the past � the fear,
anxiety, resentment, anger, guilt that we have brought with us, and caused in others, as a
consequence of our alcoholic lifestyles. Steps 4-9 particularly will deal with that deeply and
powerfully. But in the mean time we can do the following:
- If frightened or anxious, we say the Serenity Prayer until we feel better.
- If angry or annoyed for anyone, we pray for him or her, again, until we feel better.
And third, under the heading of Help Others, although we only have limited experience of
the programme there are already things we can do to help other alcoholics.
- Commit to two weekly meetings � �home groups� � and when possible get two (in
total) service commitments. At any group pitch in and be helpful eg welcome visitors
and new members, help tidy/set up. Just to be a familiar face at a meeting is a
reassurance to the newcomer who comes to a meeting for a second time. At least the
newcomer knows that it is still working for someone else.
- Phone a couple of newcomers (people newer than you) each day. And ask them how
they are doing. You don�t need to be an expert on AA or the programme. All we have
to do is listen and share our experience and perhaps offer some encouragement.
Listening to others is a great way of stopping us thinking about ourselves and falling
into self-pity.
That is the end of the talk for this week. Now I am delighted to introduce [Name]. Who will
speak in a general way about what it was like, what happened and what it is like now.