AA Speaker Clancy I.
"The First 5 Steps"
Clancy I. shares his experience with the first five steps, and many of the misconceptions about the first three steps, that keep many alcoholics from finding recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous. He makes a commitment to not talk about the steps in their deep psychological meaning, but prefers the suggestion of Dr. Bob to “Keep it simple!”
In the first step, Clancy takes us through the distinction between what people think the steps imply, and what they actually instruct us to do. In the first step, he suggests we don’t have to admit to being alcoholic or make a commitment to not drink, but only that we are having problems drinking, and trouble while sober. He takes a similar approach to the second and third steps, pointing out the numerous problems that many of us have, with the concept of a higher power.
Clancy goes into detail about the workings of the fourth step, and even gives us the questions he was asked by his sponsor. Furthermore, he suggests you write a fourth step inventory, when your restless, irritable, and discontent. He also suggests that if you're fearless and thorough, that you shouldn't feel better after writing the fourth step. Here are the questions his sponsor asked him...
1. When looking back over your life today, what memories are still painful, guilty, and dirty?
2. In which ways do you feel inadequate?
3. Who do you resent and why? Be as specific and nasty as possible as to represent how you really feel?
4. What do you perceive to be your defects of character? As far as you can determine?
5. What is the nature of your reoccurring problems with your family and the people you love?
6. Realistic or not, what are your goals today?
7. Do you see any way that AA can begin to help you start to these goals?
Clancy says that in his area of the country it’s customary to take the fifth step with your sponsor, because this is the person you are entrusting to save your life, so why would you not give him the information to do that?
Q and A on the first 5 steps:
· How come the steps are written in the past tense?
· If someone your sponsoring takes months and months on the 4th step, what do you tell them?
· Can you write down those 4th step questions? (ABOVE)
· Maybe I’m not doing a 4th step right, is that why I can’t stay sober?
AA Circuit Speaker Clancy I. - "Step study over Steps 1, 2, and 3!" (The Steps Explained)
In this Step study meeting with Clancy I., he explains how he worked the first three steps with his first sponsor for the first time. Clancy's early recovery was characterized by relapse, and he found the first three steps to be the most difficult. The impressions of his sponsor, and his reactions to the steps are humorous and insightful.
We’d like to thank you for listening to this speaker and hope it helps you in your recovery! Please like, subscribe, and visit us at http://aaspeaker.com for more great speakers! Help the newcomer by commenting below which part helped you the most! We won’t ruin his talk, but the next 4 paragraphs describe details and contains a few spoilers.
Well after being introduced to AA, Clancy got out of jail one morning, to find out his son had died. He promised his wife everything would be different. When he stopped drinking, a growing restlessness and irritability would turn in his gut. He couldn’t drink or stay sober, so he closed the garage, started the car, and died. After being resuscitated, he was committed to the state Insane asylum.
One day his sponsor explained how if he was going to die drunk, it wasn’t going to be because of alcohol, but because of alcoholism. His problems didn’t seem to disappear when he stopped drinking. and even appeared to get worse. Clancy realized he was drinking to preserve his sanity. In December of 1958, after attending AA for over 10 years, he finally understood what it meant to be an Alcoholic, and worked his First Step.
When approaching the 2nd Step, Clancy had all kinds of objections, because if god exists, then he must be damned. He didn’t understand why they spoiled AA with all that god crap, and he wasn’t willing to return to god. He couldn’t believe in AA either. He thought his sponsor was doing better than him, and therefore accepted him as his higher power.
He looked at the Third step as horribly religious. There was no way he intended to turn his will over to the care of god. When he made a commitment to simply do what his sponsor told him, he felt he was in absolute surrender.