ACA/EAA A Chit Chat

1999 05/17

In this month’s Chit Chat I have decided to concentrate on the topics of Working the Steps, the Future, and Doing Service...

Hi!!! My name is Paul W., and I’m the editor of the "Chit Chat". If you would like to contribute material, support, help, or suggestions:

• See me at St. Paul’s on Wednesdays; or,
• Write to me at:
    Editor, "A Chit Chat",
    219-370 Forest Street,
    Ottawa, Ontario,
    K2B 8B3. -or-
• E-mail me at the NCR Intergroup mailbox: ACAinOttawa@canoemail.com

Food for Thought:

We may be more needy and have less to give during times of grief, stress, and change.

NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION (NCR) ACA INTERGROUP

All ACA members are reminded that you are welcome to attend any ACA Intergroup meeting. Intergroup meetings are held on the third (3rd) Monday of the month at 5:30 PM in room 202 at St. Paul's University.

NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION (NCR) ACA INTERGROUP

The following positions are available on the NCR ACA Intergroup:

• Vice Chairperson
• Secretary

More Food for Thought:

Controlling is a direct response to our fear, panic, and sense of helplessness.

Working the Steps

Powerless over others, Step One is the key
To acceptance, Step Two
And surrender, Step Three.

In Step Four, I write down all of my sins,
Then take the Fifth and tell a friend!
In Step Six, I'm ready to have them removed
Then ask God, in Seven, to help me improve.

In Eight, I write of family and friends
To whom I need to make amends.
Step Nine is hard: I tell each one,
"I apologize for what I've done!"

In Step Ten, I keep looking deep inside.
I find what's wrong and make it right.
The thing I've noticed about Step Ten
Is that it never seems to end.

But I come to Eleven, cleansed and pure,
I talk to God and I feel secure,
For in Step Twelve, my soul is now free.
I carry the message, and the message is ME.

These steps and these meetings
have helped me to be
What God always intended...
"Precious and Free!"

Future

"The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created... created first in mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths to it are not found but made, and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination".

Still More Food for Thought:

Form is the outline; substance is what fills it in. We fill in the outline of ourselves by being authentic; we fill in the outline of our life by showing up for life and participating to the best of our ability.

Doing Service

Karl Reiland once said, "In about the same degree as you are helpful, you will be happy". The service work we are called to do in Step Twelve is a result of our spiritual awakening. When most of us thought of service, we thought of restaurant help, chores around the house, washing windows.

The thought of service was burdensome if not down-right irritating. We probably schemed throughout our lives to do as little service as possible. Every moment we gave to someone else was one less moment we could spend on ourselves. This stands to reason, for we were totally self-centered. Even those of us who "acted as if" we cared normally received much more than we ever gave.

The 12-Step way of life produces "other-centeredness". We, by the grace of God, care less about ourselves and more about our fellows. When I pass on my recovery, I keep it. This spiritual paradox becomes an all-determining reality for me, that to keep what I have found, I must give it away. Service becomes a way of life.

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