Footwork XXVI, #2 copy - wilmingtonaa.us · Web viewThe AA program’s stability in supporting the desperate alcoholic over the years since 1935 lends credit to its longevity of purpose,

Number 6 November/December 2019XXVI

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Step ElevenSought 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.

I grew up with a deeply religious grandmother, so when the 11th Step mentioned prayer I knew exactly what that meant. But meditation is a different beast entirely – I have no real concept of what effective meditation looks like. It’s a practice that just wasn’t focused on by the churches I attended. Of course, I found that even the simplest of internet searches provided examples of what has worked for others. But I had very little hope that what would work for others would work for me. Being still, practicing silent contemplation, attempting to clear my mind -it all seemed so foreign and uncomfortable.

Willingness is indispensable in recovery. When faced with something that feels foreign and uncomfortable, it is willingness that will win the day. And so it was for me. Thankfully, the Big Book doesn’t dictate HOW we meditate – it just advocates that we TRY to meditate. And that’s the willingness I found – the willingness to try. And much like my personal concept of God, recovery allows me to create my own personal meditation practices. That has made all the difference.

Step TwelveHaving 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.

What is the message we try to carry? And who are these alcoholics we try to carry it to? When I was early in sobriety and sharing in meetings, I would often talk about the Big Book. I would share about who wrote it, how it was inspired, and what some of the words I looked up really meant. I would talk about the 12 & 12, how the essays correlated with the Big Book, what they revealed about the history of the AA program, and how great I thought the Step 11 prayer was. Sometimes I would talk about how reading other books, like Pass It On or Living Sober, reinforced certain ideas found in other, more popular, AA literature. In short, when I was in early sobriety, I would prove to others that I knew a lot about the program of AA by telling them things they already knew themselves.But that’s not helpful at all to the alcoholic who has never read the Big Book, who has never heard of the 12 & 12, and who are at their first meeting, doubtful and shaking. This is the alcoholic I am carrying the message to, and the message is simple – I have been where they are, hopeless, and I found hope in the program of AA. They also need to hear that I’m not special – it can happen for them to.


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From the ArchivistStrength in SerenityBehind the Fellowship/Intergroup location is a wondrous oak tree. Examined by a City of Wilmington arborist in 2011, this tree is approximately 350 years old, and may have in the distant past been part of the landscape of a Native American community. Fondly named the Serenity Oak, it has been witness to much outdoor step work and many Alcoholics Anonymous picnics over the years. It can also bring to mind comparisons to many of the features of the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. According to William Bryant Logan in his in-depth examination Oak: The Frame of Civilization “The oak’s distinction is its insistence and its flexibility. The tree helps and is helped in turn”. The AA program’s stability in supporting the desperate alcoholic over the years since 1935 lends credit to its longevity of purpose, and its encouragement “Why don’t you choose your own conception of God?”(p. 7 Big Book) exemplifies its personalized workability for the diverse group that enters our meeting rooms. In turn, the fellowship gives back through service, sponsorship, and loyalty.“Where there are or have been cities and cultures that shaped the modern world, there are or have been oak trees.” The AA Website states that the “AA presence can be found in approximately 180 nations worldwide with a membership estimated at over two million”.Just as AA “feeds” us spiritually, the “sturdy oak(s) afforded a splendid affluence” and were “dependable providers of food for people. In Tunisia an old word for oak is ‘The meal-bearing tree’”. Whereas the acorn had the “proper nutritional characteristics to become a staple food”, AA provides us the principles upon which we can build a well-nourished sobriety. Generosity and hospitality, sustenance and shelter are characteristics of both the oak tree and our AA fellowship. Lessons of cooperation, flexibility, persistence, and community can be learned from both our organization and the awesome oak. Next time you visit the Intergroup office or the Fellowship Center, take a couple of minutes to visit the Serenity Oak out back. It is truly a wondrous part of who we are in the Wilmington sobriety community.

Carol A., Archivist


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A Note from the Board Chair

Here are the Board members for 2019

OfficersChair - Will S. (Term Ends (T/E) 2020) Vice Chair - Donna C. (T/E 2020) Treasurer – Barry M. (T/E 2019)Alternate Treasurer – LeeAnn P. (T/E 2019)Secretary - Cindy W. (T/E 2020)Alternate Secretary - Penny C. (T/E2020)

At-Large MembersDara G. (T/E 2019)Bill T. (T/E 2020) Pat N. (T/E 2019) Colin H.(T/E 2019) Sam R. (T/E 2019)Susan P. (T/E 2019)

Newly Elected MembersBarry M. (T/E 2022)Colin H. (T/E 2022) Hap P. (T/E 2022) Eileen T. (T/E 2022) George W. (T/E 2022)Rob V. (T/E 2022)

I wish everyone a happy Gratitude Month (November)! As a reminder, BOD officer positions for 2020 will be elected at the December Meeting (observers are welcome), and a short recap of 2019 will be discussed at the November Full Council Meeting.

If you have any comments, questions or concerns, please reach out to the Intergroup office, me or anyone else on the Board.

Yours in service,

Will S., Board Chair

From the OfficeGreetings from the office of the Wilmington Area Intergroup Association! Ashley, your Intergroup assistant office manager, has been promoted to be the newest Office Manager, taking on the job of leading the Intergroup into the new year and carrying the momentum built up from a great year in 2019. The Intergroup financial statements are now available on the website, enabling the community to make informed decisions about the direction and focus of the Intergroup’s future efforts. New board members will be joining the Board of Directors in 2020, as others proudly finish their terms of service. And the holiday Alkathons are back this season, bringing hope and fellowship to all those seeking the safety of the rooms of AA in what can be a trying time of year.

Keep an eye out for announcements on our community website!Many new volunteers are signing up at the office to cover the outreach phone and the Night Owl phone. Opportunities for service are always available and the experience of service work invaluable – come by or call the office to sign up and be a part of what the office provides!Live Easy But Think First,

David G.

Birthday ClubBirthday. Anniversary. Celebration day. Regardless the name, the anniversary of the date we pick up a white chip and join A. A. is an important one.

A very special way to celebrate and give back is to make a donation to Intergroup. One dollar for each year of sobriety makes a small dent in our pockets. But each one of those dollars is a significant amount that Intergroup can put to good use helping carry the message of sobriety.

It is simple to contact the Intergroup Office, or visit our website at www.wilmingtonaa.us, to find out how to make this important contribution.


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Tradition Eleven

Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.

When this tradition was first conceived, I bet no one could have predicted the world AA now operates in – a world that offers so many the freedom of expression through the use of social media. It is in this venue that anonymity has almost no meaning – social media is not meant for users to remain anonymous. In fact, it is quite the opposite. On social media some members of AA, many of them new to the Fellowship, shout aloud their membership for anyone to see. There is nothing anonymous about that.The GSO has recently, and publicly, declared that the 11th Tradition applies to the social media presence of AA members. But that declaration, as far as I can tell, has fallen primarily on deaf ears. Members who care not about personal anonymity continue to tell the world how they are getting sober – promoting AA as one would a new hobby, instead of letting their own changed attitudes speak for themselves.This isn’t for me to judge, of course, as personal autonomy is the unspoken bedrock of my recovery community – people are free to choose to do whatever they like. I believe in the program of AA and I believe the Fellowship will survive any negative press inadvertently created by these members.

Tradition Twelve

Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

The concept of anonymity was foreign to this alcoholic before I entered recovery. Who wants to be anonymous? I wanted to be famous. I wanted to get all the acknowledgements and awards for all the wonderful things that I could do. I wanted the whole world to know my name and associate it with greatness. I absolutely had no use for being anonymous.That’s the manifestation of my ego – big, bold, and brash. Recovery has taught me that if I want to stay sober, that inflated ego of mine had to go. The Big Book tells me that I should want to be a friend among friends, a worker among workers – in short, I should stop trying to make myself somehow special. That has been the start of sobriety for me. And it’s why anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions – because AA isn’t about individuals, it’s about principles. Patience, love, tolerance – these are the principles I aspire to. And they are the saving grace for many of my fellow AA members. My community is full of personalities – many of which I might not otherwise mingle with. What we have in common is what binds us - we all are trying to stay sober one day at a time. So when a fellow member of AA takes over a meeting with a long, self-centered share, or when a business meeting gets heated because someone thinks their idea should be the standard accepted by the group, I remember that this tradition tells me “to place principles before personalities.”

Group ContributionsThank you to all the groups who make contributions in support of your Intergroup. It helps us carry the message…….

How can I Engage in Service Work?

It’s probably not productive to rate one form of service work “better” than another. But one which ranks pretty high is the “Night Owl” phone—the overnight and weekend answering service for the Intergroup Office.

Often, the first contact with A. A. is a telephone call to a local Intergroup. Whether by the active alcoholic in very real need of help, a family member looking for assistance, or by visitors looking for a meeting, each call is important. Callers often need help at times other than usual business hours, so we have 24 hour phone coverage.

After-hours calls are forwarded to a special cell phone. A detailed instruction packet with contact numbers and meeting information accompanies the cell phone. A. A. volunteers handle the phone calls, and give out meeting information, treatment center numbers, and have a list of 12 th Step volunteers who can return calls to those needing help.

It is common for a group to volunteer to take the phone for a month, with the phone being passed around members of the group. Other arrangements are possible. Individuals can also take the phone during certain times. Handling the phone is a great way for a sponsor/sponsee to join for service work. Please contact the Intergroup Office for more information


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Wilmington Area Intergroup, Group ContributionsThe Wilmington Area Intergroup Office serves groups in Brunswick, Columbus, Pender, and New Hanover counties to better carry the

message of Alcoholics Anonymous to the suffering alcoholic.

Your contributions keep the Intergroup Office functioning.

September/OctoberAcross The River Primary PurposeAt The Crossroads PTSBig Book Near the Beach Reaching OutBrain Damaged Relapse and RecoveryBreakfast Club Serenity By The SeaCastle Hayne ShallotteComplete Abandon Sisters in SobrietyConscious Contact SouthportEZ Duz It SpringboardFresh Beginnings Sunset SerenityGrissettown Topsail IslandHampstead Turning PointHolden Beach Wharf RatsHow Dry I Am Young PeopleInside/OutJoe And CharlieJust A MeetingKeep It SimpleLiving SoberMen Living SoberMiddayMixed NutzNew Tabor CityNew WhitevilleOak Island


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Alkathons For 2019

Thanksgiving 2am- Complete AbandonNovember 27

4am- Back to Basics

6pm- How Dry I Am 6am- Pickle

8pm- Pender Benders 8am- Reaching Out

10pm- Seaside Serenity 10am- Coastal

November 28 Noon- Joe and CharlieMidnight- At the Crossroads

2am- Last Call New Years Eve

4am- 164 Big Book December 31

6am- EZ DUZ IT 6pm- Mixed Nutz

8am- Relapse & Recovery 8pm- Big Book Near The Beach

10am- Eustabaphalus 10pm- Carolina/Kure Beach

Noon- Across New Years DayChristmas Eve January 1December 24 Midnight- Young People’s

6pm- Beginners and Winners 2am- Wharf Rats

8pm- One Day At a Time 4am- 10:45 Group

10pm- Keep It Simple 6am- Women Supporting WomenChristmas Day 8am- Men Living SoberDecember 25 10am- Brain DamagedMidnight- Tuesday Night Men’s Noon- Just A Meeting


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Recovery Rockfest Reading, printed with permissionThis disease is a liar. It’s a monster that feasts on your soul bite by bite until you become unrecognizable to yourself. It sells you solutions to the problems that it created and its solutions are always to use. Use drugs. Use booze. Use people. Just feed me. Nothing else matters. No one else matters, least of all...you. It locks you in a cage of your own broken thoughts, feeding you a steady diet of anger and lies all designed to satisfy the beast until its fangs drip with the essence of who you used to be. It thrills in making the smart stupid, the hopeful suicidal and the brave broken. It leaves in its wake broken hearts, dreams and promises. And when all the bridges have been burned and all the people have been emptied and all the damage has been done, it leaves you a shell of a person at the crossroads. Do you choose life or death? And left to its own devices, this disease will break you down so completely that death seems better than life because long before you reach that point, it will have convinced you that everything and everyone are the worst anyway. In the end, if you allow it, the difference between who you are and what the disease has turned you into will become paper thin. Jails. Institutions. Death. But not until the disease pushes everyone you love and everyone who loves you away, isolating you from anything that stands in the path of your destruction. And you are swathed by a loneliness so deep that you become the walking dead, and the disease convinces you that this is freedom. This is success. This is relief. That is the distorted reality that leads so many of us to our demise. I know this disease. It has surrounded me my entire life. As a kid, I escaped into my head. As an adult, I escaped into my addiction. I matter too. I matter too. I matter too...I don’t matter at all. And all I felt was small. A ghost. And not a particularly interesting one at that. The invisible woman. And that was just fine, my disease told me. Better to be invisible than a target. And I fed my disease because it quieted my head. And I fed my disease until it wanted me dead. And that was just fine too. No great loss. I couldn’t hide behind a smile anymore. I couldn’t pretend that things were fine. I didn’t have a husband or career or kids to lose. There was no great achievement that I could hide my addiction behind. See? I can’t be an addict! Look what I’ve accomplished! So I knew. I accepted that and I drank and I used and I listened to the voices that said it would be a relief to everyone when I die. As it turned out, none of that was real. This disease of illusions and delusions causes nothing but confusion and my mind was certainly easy pickings. My story could have ended there. That could have been my legacy. I do not know why some people find recovery and some do not. I do not know why so many have to die before they have the opportunity to live. I only know that I had a moment where I could see through the lies in my head and in that moment I felt hope for the first time in a very long time. So I grabbed it. Then my life began. And the joy is that I am a work in progress. I have choices. I have the freedom to make mistakes and discover who I am and what I value. Where there once was self loathing, there is now a willingness to grow into myself. Where there was once self pity, there is now the honest assessment of how much misery was of my own making and truly how much gratitude I have to be given another chance when so many others die or live as their worst selves in this disease. Where there was loneliness, there is as much love as I am willing to let in and out of my heart. I am owned by nothing. I am free, not only from my addiction but of all the broken thoughts that the disease inspired. Life is not always easy or fair and it is almost never without struggle. The freedom comes from not expecting it to be. The strength comes from walking through the challenges. The hope comes from not believing the fear driven lies my mind tries to sell me. And all I had to do is put down the loaded gun and recognize that as smart as I like to think I am, I haven’t been able to stop participating in my own demise. I had to have just enough humility to learn from those who had succeeded where I failed. There is no shame in recovery, only accountability. I choose life. I choose today. I choose all the joy and the pain. I choose hope. I choose not to be owned by my disease and the thoughts that drive it. I choose not to be my worst self. I am worth it. And so are all of you.Corey A R Gongre


From the Archives

If you are interested in doing service work in the Wilmington Area Intergroup Archives please call or email

Carol A. at the Intergroup offices 910 - 794 - 1840 / [email protected].

Pamphlet of the Monthfor October

The Jack Alaexander

Article About A.A.P-12

https:// www.aa.org/assets/en_US/aa-literature/

Gratitude Dinner Dance

Speaker: Joey M. from Fairmont, NC

DJ, 50/50 Raffle, items such as Jewelry, art work, bicycle, and gift baskets

Will be available for auction

December 8th, 5:30pm – 10:00pmWilmington Convention Center

515 Nutt Street, Wilmington

Tickets: $30.00, must be purchasedBy November 16th.

Tickets available on the website,www.wilmingtonaa.us,

or from individuals selling them throughout the community.

If you would like to donate itemsFor the auction, please contactAshley at the Intergroup Office

910-794-1840

http://www.wilmingtonaa.us/

News FlashThe Intergroup Office

And Bookstore are now openFrom 9am – 1pm every Saturday!

Come out and see what’snew at the office!

Thanksgiving Alkathon DinnerMenu: Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Dressing and Gravy

Please bring side dishes, such as deserts or vegetables, to share!

Dinner will be served immediately following the 12pm meeting on Thanksgiving Day. It is free and we hope to see you come fellowship with us!


Wilmington Area A. A. Intergroup

The Wilmington Area A. A. Intergroup office serves Districts 03 and 04 and provides the following:

• A large stock of AA books, pamphlets, meeting schedules, medallions, chips, and other items;

• A telephone hotline, with the much-appreciated help of volunteers. This is often the first contact of hope for someone suffering from alcoholism;

• Fellowship activities directly related to AA, such as the Founders’ Day Picnic, holiday Alkathons (and meals!), the annual holiday speaker/dance/dinner event, and many others;

• Mailboxes for groups so information is quickly distributed;

• A place for some fellowshipping and perhaps a cup of coffee.

Dates to Remember

Intergroup Board of Directors, 2nd Thursdays, 5:30 p.m., Intergroup OfficeFull Intergroup Council, 2nd Thursdays of odd-numbered months 5:30 p.m., Fellowship CenterCPC/PI 1st Sunday of every odd-numbered month, 6:30 pm, Fellowship CenterEvents Committee, 1st Thursdays, 5:30 p.m., Intergroup Office, all welcomeStrategic Plan Implementation Committee, 1st Mondays, 5:30 p.m., Intergroup Office, all welcome

If you have recurring events or meetings you want listed here, please contact the editor.


News Flash

Footwork is now available online.

Go to wilmingtonaa.us and follow the easy-to-follow instructions.

Special Event Ideas Wanted

I want the hand of AA to always be there....and for that I am

responsible

The Special Events Committee would like to reach as many members of our community as possible. One way to do that is to organize an event, once a month, to focus on the fellowship of AA. We need your help – all ideas for events are welcome. Help us bring the fellowship together monthly in 2020!

Call the Intergroup Office or email the staff at

[email protected]

Meals will be served on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, just like Thanksgiving, following the 12pm meeting.

Christmas Day – Light Luncheon, same as Thanksgiving Day meal

New Year’s Day – Light Lunch

Please bring side dishes to share and join us!

Pamphlet of the Monthfor September

Do you think you’re different?P-13


News Flash

Also available on-line and free of charge is Box 459, the quarterly newsletter from the A.A. General Service Office.

Go to aa.org/pages/en_us/box-4-5-9-news-and-notes-from-gso


Why wait?

Why put up with wrinkled, coffee-stained copies? Why chance not getting a copy at all?

Be the first kid on your block to have your very own copy of Footwork.So many options!!!

Groups1 copy at intergroup mailbox…...............................................................................free10 copies at intergroup mailbox…..........................................................................$5.00/yearby U. S. Post, 10 copies............................................................................................$6.00/year

Individualsby email...................................................................................................................freeby U. S. Post,............................................................................................................$6.00/year

subscription information individual or group name mailing address

email address for individual

mail or bring this form, along with the correct fee, to Wilmington Area Intergroup.

newnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewnewneNow available online wilmingtonaa.us Now available online

Wilmington Area Intergroup5901 Wrightsville, AveWilmington, NC 28403

Name Address

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Documents

Footwork XXVI, #2 copy - wilmingtonaa.us · Web viewThe AA program’s stability in supporting the desperate alcoholic over the years since 1935 lends credit to its longevity of purpose,