Post by Lin on Dec 18, 2003 5:26:36 GMT -5
In case any of you want to chair or fill in sometime, and don't have the notes, here they ARE! I shorten these because the room only allows one line at a time. LIN
AcoA Meeting Notes
Welcome to the regular meeting of ACoA, Adult Children Anonymous, also known as Adult Children of Alcoholics/Dysfunctional Families.
We meet to share the experience we had as children growing up in an alcoholic and/or dysfunctional home--the way it affected us then and the way it affects us now. By practicing the 12 Steps, focusing on the Solution, and accepting a Higher Power of our own understanding, we find freedom from the effects of alcoholism and family dysfunction. We identify with the Problem and learn to live by the Solution, one day at a time, in order to find our true selves.
Many of us could not recognize or accept that some of our self-defeating attitudes and behaviors as adults result from experiences related to alcoholism or dysfunction in our childhoods. In the ACoA program, we learn to come out of denial and share the pain of childhood memories in an environment of love and acceptance. We grow to an awareness that from our reaction to experiences in the past we form patterns of behavior, and we learn that we have the power to change these patterns. We learn to become our own loving parent.
To share during the meeting, type ! (it's like raising your hand) and wait for the moderator to recognize you and give you the floor. When you are finished sharing, type <done>. While the meeting is in progress, no cross-talk is allowed during shares. Open chat is welcome after the meeting is closed.
Will all who care to please join us in a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer.
God, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.
Our Twelve Steps 1. We admitted we were powerless over the effects of alcoholism or other family dysfunction, that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs. 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people, wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others who still suffer, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
(choose)
If you are a newcomer tonight, please raise your hand so that we can welcome you to our group.
The topic of our meeting tonight is ____________.
Would anyone like to suggest a topic for tonight's meeting?
Before we open the floor to shares on ____________, if there is anyone who has a pressing problem please let us know.
Before we close the meeting, are there any ACoA or other group announcements anyone would like to make?
Please remember that the opinions expressed here belong strictly to those who gave them. Take what you want and leave the rest. We ask that you treat the things you've heard and seen here tonight, with confidentiality. Keep them within these walls and the confines of your mind. Whatever your problems, concerns, or issues, there are others here who have had them too. If you allow yourself to listen to both yourself and others, you may find the help you are looking for. You will come to realize that there is no situation too difficult to be improved upon and no unhappiness too great to be lessened.
We aren't perfect. The welcome we give you may not show the warmth we have in our hearts for you. After a while, you'll discover that though you may not like all of us, you'll love and accept us in a very special way--the same way we already love and accept you. Let the understanding, love, and serenity of the program grow in you one day at a time. Will all who care to please join me in the closing prayer.
I put my hand in yours and together we can do what we could never do alone. No longer is there a sense of hopelessness. No longer must we depend upon our own unsteady willpower. We are all together now, reaching out our hands for power and strength greater than our own and as we join hands, we find love and understanding beyond our wildest dreams. Amen
AcoA Meeting Notes
Welcome to the regular meeting of ACoA, Adult Children Anonymous, also known as Adult Children of Alcoholics/Dysfunctional Families.
We meet to share the experience we had as children growing up in an alcoholic and/or dysfunctional home--the way it affected us then and the way it affects us now. By practicing the 12 Steps, focusing on the Solution, and accepting a Higher Power of our own understanding, we find freedom from the effects of alcoholism and family dysfunction. We identify with the Problem and learn to live by the Solution, one day at a time, in order to find our true selves.
Many of us could not recognize or accept that some of our self-defeating attitudes and behaviors as adults result from experiences related to alcoholism or dysfunction in our childhoods. In the ACoA program, we learn to come out of denial and share the pain of childhood memories in an environment of love and acceptance. We grow to an awareness that from our reaction to experiences in the past we form patterns of behavior, and we learn that we have the power to change these patterns. We learn to become our own loving parent.
To share during the meeting, type ! (it's like raising your hand) and wait for the moderator to recognize you and give you the floor. When you are finished sharing, type <done>. While the meeting is in progress, no cross-talk is allowed during shares. Open chat is welcome after the meeting is closed.
Will all who care to please join us in a moment of silence followed by the Serenity Prayer.
God, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.
Our Twelve Steps 1. We admitted we were powerless over the effects of alcoholism or other family dysfunction, that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him. 4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs. 6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character. 7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings. 8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people, wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others. 10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. 11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understand Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. 12. Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to others who still suffer, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
(choose)
If you are a newcomer tonight, please raise your hand so that we can welcome you to our group.
The topic of our meeting tonight is ____________.
Would anyone like to suggest a topic for tonight's meeting?
Before we open the floor to shares on ____________, if there is anyone who has a pressing problem please let us know.
Before we close the meeting, are there any ACoA or other group announcements anyone would like to make?
Please remember that the opinions expressed here belong strictly to those who gave them. Take what you want and leave the rest. We ask that you treat the things you've heard and seen here tonight, with confidentiality. Keep them within these walls and the confines of your mind. Whatever your problems, concerns, or issues, there are others here who have had them too. If you allow yourself to listen to both yourself and others, you may find the help you are looking for. You will come to realize that there is no situation too difficult to be improved upon and no unhappiness too great to be lessened.
We aren't perfect. The welcome we give you may not show the warmth we have in our hearts for you. After a while, you'll discover that though you may not like all of us, you'll love and accept us in a very special way--the same way we already love and accept you. Let the understanding, love, and serenity of the program grow in you one day at a time. Will all who care to please join me in the closing prayer.
I put my hand in yours and together we can do what we could never do alone. No longer is there a sense of hopelessness. No longer must we depend upon our own unsteady willpower. We are all together now, reaching out our hands for power and strength greater than our own and as we join hands, we find love and understanding beyond our wildest dreams. Amen
. I will be back looking for Lin and others.