Sober Sunrise - AA Speaker Podcast

Arnor says AA can feel like an invisible rowboat: it may not make sense at first, but you still have to get in and row. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates:https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Arnor K. shares a sharp, funny, and unconventional AA workshop talk on carrying the message, working with newcomers, and why intensive work with other alcoholics became the missing piece of his own sobriety. He talks about coming into AA angry, defensive, and unimpressed, reading the Big Book to find loopholes, learning from people who did not want to do the work but did it anyway, and discovering that sobriety was not just about fixing himself. Arnor digs into Chapter 7, the practical meaning of “intensive work with other alcoholics,” the difference between sounding like an expert and gaining a drunk’s trust, why perfection is not required to help someone, and how the recipe of AA only comes alive when it is actually baked into action. It is a restless, funny, thought-provoking talk about getting off the receiving end of AA and becoming part of the work. Arnor K. from Oslo, Norway speaking about carrying the message at the June NOLA workshop in New Orleans, LA - June 28th 2015 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

In the finale of the Joe & Charlie Founders' Day series, the written inventory becomes admission, willingness, amends, daily practice, and a message carried to someone else. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates:https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter In this final combined session, Joe and Charlie take the Fourth Step inventory into Steps Five through Twelve. They explain why self-appraisal alone is not enough, how admitting the exact nature of our wrongs begins clearing away what has blocked us, and how willingness in Step Six leads to the humility of Step Seven. From there, they move into the amends process, including becoming willing, making direct amends carefully, and allowing changed conduct to repair the past. Joe and Charlie then show how Steps Ten and Eleven keep inventory, prayer, and meditation active in daily life before bringing the workshop home with Step Twelve. The result of the first eleven Steps is a spiritual awakening, but the responsibility that follows is just as important: practicing these principles and carrying the message to the next alcoholic. Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Parts 9 & 10: "Steps 5, 6, 7, & 8" and "Steps 9, 10, 11, & 12" Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

In Part 8 of the Joe & Charlie Founders' Day series, Joe and Charlie slow down and make the Fourth Step practical instead of mysterious. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates:https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter In this session, Joe and Charlie work through the Fourth Step inventory in detail, using the Big Book's business inventory comparison to explain why the work is written, factual, and practical. They break down the meaning of a searching and fearless moral inventory, explain moral as truth rather than shame, and walk through resentments, fears, harms, and the instincts that get threatened. They show how resentments, fear, guilt, and remorse can block a person from God, and why the inventory is not about writing a life story or punishing ourselves. Part 8 is one of the most useful workshop sessions because it turns Step Four into something a newcomer can actually sit down and do.Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Part 8: "Working the 4th Step"Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

In Parts 6 and 7 of the Joe & Charlie Founders' Day series, willingness becomes action as We Agnostics leads directly into How It Works and the Twelve Steps. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates:https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter In this combined session, Joe and Charlie begin with We Agnostics and explain why the Big Book does not demand a particular religion, a polished understanding of God, or perfect belief. Instead, it asks whether the alcoholic can become willing to seek a power greater than human power. From there, they move into How It Works, the wording and development of the Twelve Steps, and the difference between reaching conclusions in Steps One and Two and making a decision in Step Three. They break down will as thinking and life as action, explain why self-will cannot solve a problem rooted in self, and show why the Third Step decision must immediately be carried into inventory. Parts 6 and 7 form the bridge between understanding the problem and beginning the practical program of action. Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Parts 6 & 7: "We Agnostics" and "How It Works" Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Karl called his father, a minister and theologian, expecting him to explain God. His father gave him a much shorter answer: God is whatever got you to those people, so do what they say. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates:https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Karl, sober since January 21, 1987, shares a rapid-fire AA talk about growing up in Borneo, blacking out from his first drink at 11, earning ten college credits in three years, dealing drugs, living on the streets, and joining the Navy to escape people he owed. His drinking followed him into military life, where he drove through a guard shack, repeatedly drank on Antabuse, landed in jail, and was finally sent to treatment under threat of the brig and a bad-conduct discharge. At his first AA meeting, one sentence described the condition he could never explain: his mind would have killed his body, but it needed it for transportation. What followed was a weekend of meetings, a recovering alcoholic waiting for him aboard his ship, nightly Big Book study in the battery shop, inventory, difficult financial amends, an honorable discharge, and a return to college. Karl explains how meetings, the book, and service became recovery, unity, and service in action, and how loading newcomers into a broken Volkswagen taught him that helping someone else could improve his life before the car even left the parking lot. Karl M. from Covina, CA speaking somewhere in Texas, sometime in 1994Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Michael knew he was alcoholic for twelve years before AA, but the part that changed his life was learning what came after putting the drink down. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates:https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Michael, from Montana, shares a direct and thoughtful AA talk centered on Step One, especially the unmanageability that remained after alcohol was removed. He talks about years of drinking Granddad in private, blackouts, hiding car keys from himself, waking up afraid of what he might have done, time behind bars, wrecked cars, hospitalizations, and the slow degradation that made him believe he did not deserve to sober up. After court, treatment, relapses, early sponsorship choices, and the death of a friend, Michael describes the moment he got on his knees with other sober men and finally asked for the compulsion to be removed. From there, he walks through why every Step after Step One deals with the same deeper problem: resentments, fear, selfishness, sexual behavior, sponsorship, amends, and becoming a builder instead of a destroyer. This is a strong tape for anyone who has heard “I’m powerless” but still wonders what AA means by “my life had become unmanageable.” Michael McK. from Whitefish, MT at Kalispell, MT May 17th 1998 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Daniel says he spent his drinking years chasing the perfect level, but every time he found it, he flew right past it. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates:https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Daniel, from Benton, Arkansas, shares a funny, raw, and deeply alive AA talk about getting sober young after alcohol and drugs took him from anxiety and feeling different into blackouts, jail, withdrawal, rage, and wanting out. He talks about his first drink removing the knot in his gut, the daily chase for the “perfect level,” and the morning of August 8, 1998, when he asked God to let him die or give him help. What came next was detox, treatment, and three AA members who shook his hand, told him they were glad he was there, and carried a message real enough to give him hope. From there, Daniel walks through the Steps, sponsorship, inventory, amends, young people’s AA, service commitments, the recovery-unity-service triangle, and the joy of watching other alcoholics come alive. By the end, his message is simple: there is no advanced AA, service keeps the structure standing, and if God has a plan for your life, make it count Daniel E. from Benton, AR speaking at Arkansas Conference of Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous in Morrilton, AR - October 7th 2005 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Jerome says he was not a has-been, but a never-was, until AA gave him a design for living that took him from Skid Row and institutions to sobriety, family, education, and useful work. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates:https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Jerome shares a vivid AA talk about growing up in South Central L.A., taking his first drink before a high school record hop in the summer of 1962, and discovering that alcohol seemed to make him able to act, perform, and stop caring what anyone thought. That first drink became a long collapse through homelessness, hospitals, arrests, mental health treatment, Camarillo State Hospital, and repeated attempts to explain away what alcohol kept doing to his life. On June 6, 1973, after one more jail cell and one more broken return home, Jerome walked into an AA clubhouse at 9604 South Figueroa and finally listened like only the dying can hear. In this talk, he tells how no-nonsense AA people, sponsorship, faith in action, work, school, fatherhood, forgiveness, and the simple design for living in Alcoholics Anonymous helped him become the man a psychiatrist once said he could never be. Jerome S. from Corona, California Speaking at the Santa Barbara AA Convention, September 23, 2000Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

In Part 2 of the Joe & Charlie Founders’ Day series, Joe and Charlie explain why The Doctor’s Opinion is one of the keys to understanding alcoholism itself. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates:https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter In this session, Joe and Charlie walk through Dr. Silkworth’s explanation of alcoholism: the body that reacts differently to alcohol, the physical craving that starts after the first drink, and the mind that eventually forgets the consequences and reaches for alcohol again. They break down the difference between craving and obsession, why the word “allergy” confused so many alcoholics, and why the Big Book says the body of the alcoholic is as abnormal as the mind. By the end, they connect The Doctor’s Opinion directly to Step One: if we cannot safely drink because of the body, and we cannot stay stopped because of the mind, then we are powerless over alcohol. They also point toward the answer: the psychic change produced through the Twelve Steps, where peace of mind, serenity, and usefulness begin to replace the restless, irritable, and discontented condition that once drove the first drink Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Part 2: "The Doctor’s Opinion" Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Geoff says his first sponsor warned him that until he shook hands with the real version of himself, he would be working the program on the wrong guy. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates:https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Geoff walked into Alcoholics Anonymous on Christmas Day in 1978 after years of jail, drinking, using, fear, and desperation. In this AA talk, he shares the sponsor who almost refused to work with him, the inventories that forced him to meet the real Geoff, and the life that opened up when he began doing the work. He also talks honestly about drifting away after years sober, building a big life with a tiny program, relapsing before his 20th AA birthday, and coming back with no days. What follows is a moving story about sponsorship, service, prayer, prison panels, spiritual experience, and the discovery that God was never found alone, but in the spaces between one alcoholic and another. Geoff C. from Valley Village, CA speaking at the Third Tradition speaker meeting in Studio City, CA - November 14th 2007 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Scott could fly supersonic jets, but he could not outfly alcoholism. By the time AA found him, the dream job, the willpower, and the John Wayne act had all stopped working. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates:https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Scott, sober since June 28, 1984, shares a funny and deeply serious AA talk about drinking as a young Air Force pilot, flying high-performance aircraft with hangovers, losing the greatest job he ever had, and finally landing in treatment outside Atlanta. He talks about the “John Wayne syndrome,” the first drink that made him feel tall enough and smart enough, the treatment-center moment where he cried out for forgiveness, and the unanswerable question that made him realize he did not know how to keep himself sober. From there, Scott gets into the Big Book, sponsorship by assignment, the difference between fellowship and program, jail and prison service, fourth-step forgiveness, family pain, and the kind of spiritual life that lets him say his wager is too high to treat recovery like a buffet. Scott L. from Nashville, TN speaking at Maryland State Convention in Hagerstown, MD - June 13th 2002 Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Adam went through treatment 28 times before a sponsor cut through the badge of honor: it did not make him an alcoholic. It meant he had paid half a million dollars for a Big Book. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates:https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Adam spent 17 years in and around Alcoholics Anonymous, picking up chips, coming to meetings drunk, cycling through treatment centers, and still not understanding why alcohol was not really his problem. In this sharp, funny AA talk, he breaks down the difference between the fellowship and the program, the problem drinker and the real alcoholic, and the outer wreckage versus the inner spiritual condition that kept taking him back. Once a sponsor took him through the Big Book and into action, Adam found the missing link in inventory, service, sponsorship, and carrying the message to another alcoholic. Adam T. from Los Angeles, CA speaking at Recovery On The Rock in Hamilton, Bermuda - November 28th 2014Music: Deep by KaizanBlu

Kane kept parts of his life away from the program until prison, sponsorship, and a Fargo home group started showing him that every little thing had to come into the light. ☀️ Sober Sunrise Episode ArchiveMore AA speaker tapes and recovery stories:https://sober-sunrise.com/episodes 🧡 Sober Sunrise MerchShirts, mugs, and recovery-inspired gear:https://sober-sunrise.com/merch 🌴 Sober Sunrise NewsletterWeekly AA speaker picks, recovery reflections, and updates:https://sober-sunrise.com/newsletter Kane got sober on August 15, 1996, and opens this talk by crediting God, his sponsor, AA meetings, and the United States judicial system. From feeling like he missed the class on how to be cool, to drinking in high school, losing jobs, running from consequences, and eventually going to prison, Kane tells a story about trying to manage life one piece at a time. After treatment inside, a halfway house, mandatory meetings, and a sponsor who finally took him through the book, he found a home group in Fargo and learned that service was not beneath him. Setting up chairs, cleaning floors, listening to his sponsor, and showing up early became the small ordinary actions that helped give him a life. Kane T. from Fargo, ND speaking at the Central Pacific Group in Minneapolis, MN - 2000Music: Deep by KaizanBlu