"Impressed by those who visited
him at the hospital, he capitulated entirely when, later, in an
upper room of this house, he heard the story of some man whose experience
closely tallied with his own."
All through my recovery over the last 21 years, I have benefitted
enormously from the breadth of the fellowship: finding people with the same
problems, both drinking and sober, destroyed the sense of 'anxious apartness'
and gave me hope that there was a solution that would solve all my problems.
I am grateful to have a sponsor who can share practical experience on
problems or difficulties I encounter and can say how he actually applied the
programme in practice to such situations.
Sponsees will sometimes share very difficult situations from the past in
areas I have no experience in. I can share the principles on how to deal with
such situations, but I can usually point them in the direction of someone with
personal experience. People report to me that this helped significantly in
their healing.
I have not had to make amends for shoplifting. I can share general
principles on step nine with sponsees on this matter, but I suggest they also
speak to friends of mine who have direct experience on how to go about such
amends.
I do not have children (although having a lot of sponsees can sometimes
feel that way), so I share general principles in this area but suggest they
talk to other parents in AA for experience on how to apply the programme in
this area.
Fortunately, I have had many problems and a varied life since I was gotten
sober by God. Most problems people come to me with I can share experience on,
regarding how I used the twelve steps and twelve traditions to handle and
transcend them, always turning them to good account. The practical examples of
how I dealt with such problems are worth any amount of theorising.
Identification is key: people trust me when I say I have found a solution
to all my problems in God, because, when I talk about those problems, they
identify. The capitulation, as described in the Big Book quotation above, is
very gratifying to see.