Hi, uh my name's Lisa. I'm an alcoholic. And I just want to call out something that my wonderful husband, Bruce, uh, went through to be able to bring to my attention. Does anybody here have the Everything AA app? Okay. If you don't, um, I can now say happily that the Everything A app AA app is now owned by AA. It usually gave a disclaimer. It's always been a great app, but it usually got a disclaimer from me. But if you go there, you're gonna be able to read the awesome pamphlet that Ron just read from us or read for um under Read the Literature and Pamphlets. But you can thank Bruce. I'm just the mouthpiece. I always give credit back to where credit is due. So anyway, yes, Bruce is Bruce is the one with that. So you can go through to be able to find that. And um, I am just gonna say that, like, holy wow, I am so glad that Ron went through to be able to share about the history of that. I absolutely love the long form of the traditions. And so going through to be able to read that and the information about it, to then go back and share like where it is that the short form of the traditions came from. And I'm also gonna toss this out real quick too. Again, I'm gonna go through to be able to thank wonderful husband Bruce. I know, but anyway, I'm yeah, anyway, here we go. So again, credit where credit is due. Um, I am in a uh, we are in, I was in a concepts workshop for uh for a while with my sponsor, grand sponsor, some other people, blah, blah. And from that, we shifted over to reading a the book, Our Great Responsibility. Has anybody had a chance to be able to read? I'm just gonna put it out there as a high recommendation for anybody who's involved in general service, like love that particular book. So we're going through to be able to read that. And as part of it, Bruce is like our um our resident um, hey, we've got a question. I'm gonna go over to the computer to be able to look up information because he is just awesome like that. And so, did you all know how many people think that the long form of the traditions have been approved by the General Service Conference? Anybody? Anyone think that the short form has been approved by the General Service Conference? Do you know? Does anybody have no idea what the General Service Conference is? Anyways, for real, does anybody know what the General Service Conference is? Does anybody not know what the General Service Conference is? So the General Service Conference is like your home group has a group conscience, and then your home group might have a GSR, and we go down the chain in AA, right? We go way down because the groups are the ones in charge of AA. And so um, as you go down the chain, your general service representative goes through to be able to represent your group's group conscience to your district level, right? And then your district level, uh, your DCM, your district committee member, and the GSRs can go to the area, which for us is southern Indiana, to be able to go through and represent the district's group conscience to the area. And then every April, uh every area, there are 93 of them across the United States and Canada, um, they elect, and Ron was one of them that was elected as our delegate to be able to represent the southern half of Indiana to be able to have the group conscience for, I'm gonna use the term AA as a whole. Um it's AA for the US and Canada. I'm just gonna put that out there. So, but it's kind of like getting the group conscience of AA as a whole, right? So that's what the General Service Conference is. Back here uh to be able to go through about the traditions. Um, so um uh I don't even know why it is that I mentioned about the General Service Conference, but there we go. Here we are. I'm gonna head back to the traditions now. Okay, squirrel, that's where I go. So um anyway, the long form and the short form. Thank you so very much, Melissa. I appreciate you. Um, so the um the short form is the only version of the traditions that has been conference approved. I just thought that that was beyond fascinating. The information that Ron was sharing about, does anybody have the book? This is a really old one, Language of the Heart. Anybody not heard of the book, Language of the Heart? Language of the Heart, another like, okay, big book, language of the heart, our great responsibility. That's just my I know the the 12 and 12 fits in there too, but anyway, just putting it out there. Um, so the language of the heart is a whole bunch of Bill's writings from I don't know, the beginning of time for Bill in the 40s, um, to I don't know, I think in into the 60s. So much incredible information in this particular book, a whole bunch of short chapters, super easy reads, great information. Love, love, love reading about Bill's materials. Um, a lot of the background of the traditions is found in language of the heart. So um, anyway, awesome book to be able to have and to be able to read. So, um, when Kathleen, thank you very much, extended the invitation for me to be able to speak here today. Um, she went through to be able to, I believe, mention the word foibles. So, what I got a chance to be able to focus on more was because I get a chance to be able to learn more about mistakes than I do about, oh, hey, you ought to go through to, right? Um, now, don't get me wrong, I do love being able to hear about, hey, self-supporting through your own contributions, right? Um so I get a bigger chance to be able to find out what self-supporting through my own contributions isn't, right? Hey, dad, I can't quite seem to make ends meet again. At that particular time was because I'm drinking and other outside issues too much. And so, you know, um anyway, so I'm just gonna run through uh the traditions. And I know that uh Kathleen said, hey, to be able to um pick the favorite ones. Well, there's about 12 favorite ones, maybe 11. But anyway, so I'm kind of just gonna give a real quick blurb about each one. And um, I wrote this down because it helps me, but like it's just me writing. So anyway, you're not gonna see any great PowerPoint. Wah wah. So um for tradition one, and I think everybody then thank you so very much for putting out the pieces of paper. So I'm just gonna go through, I'm not reading the tradition itself, so you can like just reference it in the paper yourself if you're not like sure what tradition one is. Um, but number in tradition one, I get a chance to be able to see me right-sized to the rest of the group, to the rest of the program and to the fellowship. I am but one of many, right? Like all of us, and then just kind of keep on going on to the whole district and the whole area, and then southern Indiana, and then AA and the United States and Canada, blah, blah. Um, if this one is to be able to stay sober, I can only do that when all of us stay sober. Um, you know, I didn't found AA, right? Want wah came in the rooms and uh and got a chance to be able to learn from all of you. It's in this tradition that I get outside of myself and think of we before thinking of me. I am but a small part of a larger whole. I still matter, but we matter more. Um I get to apply this tradition in my home and my work as well. I am but one part of a whole family or organization. We are all equally important. And I say regularly that, like, you know, seriously, the person who goes through to be able to sweep the hallways of the building that I work in, right? Um, it matters to me as much as uh the person that might sit in a top office. Um, I am but one part of our family or organization. Um, and I just need to be able to think about um we more than me. Um tradition two. Um, the way that I go through to be able to look at this is for my life's purpose. Now, again, you can read the tradition, right? But for my life's purpose, there is but one ultimate authority: a loving God as He may express himself in my daily doings and beings. I have leaders around me, my home group and my work and my home. Uh, but they nor I govern, but not they nor I govern. God does. In my first real home group, I learned about this tradition when I brought up what I thought was a brilliant idea. Anyone else have a brilliant idea? Can't wait for you to be able to hear it, right? I was serving as our GSR, and so I thought everyone, of course, is going to listen to me, aren't they? Well, one of my dear friends, still in the program, completely contradicted what I was saying and completely shut my ideal down. And then the rest of the home group members followed. So there you go. I got a chance to be able to learn about the group conscience uh winning, if you will, which was so the right thing at the right time. Um, I got to learn also about being one small part of a bigger whole. So super grateful for that. Tradition three. Um, I don't know when anyone is going to realize and admit that they're an alcoholic. So I sure am glad that AA doesn't have any rules. However, as I get a chance to be able to read in lots of literature, lots of different places, that it is impossible to be able to make an alcoholic out of someone who is not. Um, I know that uh my first grand sponsor had the phrase, social drinkers don't bother us much here in AA. Uh, so I'm guessing that people who keep coming back must be seeking a solution. Um, now I also know that it is important that an AA can't fix or address non-alcoholic problems, right? Um, the phrase shoemaker stick to thy last comes from this uh particular um tradition. Um, so I I kind of liken this in a couple of different ways. If purple pickle eating is your jam, uh I also suggest that purple pickle eating people go to a PPEA meeting so that they can find identification. I can say that, and I I um I feel this because I have watched people in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous die, literally, in AA because they are sober, but dying from drug addiction. To me, identification matters, and as my first sponsor said, I cannot give away what I don't have. Um, there's a lot of other outside issues that I did in a before coming to the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous, but for me, I also know that alcohol was the first thing that I picked up, and it was the last thing that I could not put down before coming into the rooms of AA. Um, my favorite little way of going through to be able to revert to tradition three is that um if I have a problem with my heart, I might love my butt doctor, but I don't want to see my butt doctor for my heart. Just don't. Just just don't. Uh I my husband and Ron uh might also know about that, right? You want to make sure you hit the cardiologist. Um, so when uh and I have sponsored people who have problems other than alcohol, and all I can do is simply suggest stick an AA if you find identification here. I'm not in charge of identification. If you don't, or if you also, if you also whatever purple pickle eating outside issue that you might have, please go find identification in those rooms as well. So that that lie of I'm okay, I'm just fine, uh, doesn't take your life. So, tradition four, um, my home group has the right to conduct its affairs as we see fit. We have the right to be right, and as my first sponsor uh taught me, we even have the right to be wrong. That's just fun. Um, but um I am also in a uh a meeting on Monday nights uh online that reads from As Bill Sees It. And I I got a phrase from this the other night when we were reading, uh, page 115 in As Bill Sees It. The essence of all growth is a willingness to change for the better, and then an unremitting willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this entails. That's what I think a tall order is. But anyway, um, so your home group has the right uh to conduct its affairs uh as you deem necessary, and I have no opinion on that unless it affects AA as a whole. And then all I can do is just come visit with you, or you know, somebody can come visit with you to be able to uh share, experience, strength, and hope. Um, you know, a great example um of this can be seen like when scheduling conflicts can come up. Like, I don't know, a home group has an anniversary on the night that maybe like a district has an event going on, and maybe like a well-established event or something. Um I also have a personal terrible example of uh of tradition four, and we can get to that later at some point in time, should need be. Tradition five. Um this is a tradition that I take seriously, and I'm just gonna read this one that each group has but one primary purpose to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers. Um, it's important to me um when sitting in a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, that there is a message of Alcoholics Anonymous that is shared. Um and I just want to make sure that I am contributing uh to a meeting or group, my home group or not. Um, and I know that I have no uh I have no voice per se on uh on a home group's decision about matters um that they do, but um but I've gone through to be able to chat with some people who share things that aren't necessarily a message of Alcoholics Anonymous. That's what I'm gonna say. To be able to focus, though, on the alcoholic who still suffers, I want to make sure that I remember that sometimes that can be a long timer that still suffers. So um, I also get to carry this tradition in my personal life. My primary purpose is to carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers. I hope that everybody has their own primary purpose in life. My mom died of this disease when I was 12. She committed suicide. I have five brothers and sisters and the oldest daughter. Um, in my first fifth step, my sponsor asked me if I thought God loved me more than my mom in response to uh a question that I had. I didn't know why I was here and she wasn't. That question hung with me. And what I can say is that what I've come away with over a long period of time is that if God still has me here to be able to help carry the message of Alcoholics Anonymous to another woman, perhaps a mom, to be able to help that woman to still stay sober for those kids, I am overpaid. Tradition six. I hope that this tradition is sort of self-explanatory. Um, I loved when Ron was going through to be able to read the long form and the short form are kind of right there with this. Um our home group, uh, my home group is the We are not, I had to give like a little few details. So my home group is We Are Not Saints Group down in Indianapolis. I know there's another one up in uh if it's District 22, but at the same point in time, I know there's one up north. Um, we are the We Are Not Saints group down on the east side of Indianapolis at uh Little Flower Church. Uh there is not uh an east side or we are not saints treatment facility anywhere, right? We are not lending the AA name or our name to any uh facility or outside enterprise. Um back in 1995, I think it was, um, I get I got a chance to be able to be uh part of a traditions panel over in Ohio. Um and I happened to have the opportunity to speak on Traditions Six and Seven. And since that time, I'm super grateful that I did because um I got a chance to be able to reflect on Tradition Six, and it occurred to me very pronouncedly at that particular point in time in my life. Nine times out of ten, if I'm gonna get into an argument or a disagreement with somebody, somewhere it's probably going to involve money, property, or prestige. Right. Um today, um, I get a chance to be able to, I could provide a lot of different ways that uh that this particular uh tradition shows up in my personal life. Um so that I am not diverted by money, property, and prestige to divert me from my primary spiritual aim in life. Um my spirituality is always going to be more important than stuff, including prestige. Tradition seven. Um I don't know if who's the district committee member in oh, he's not here. Okay. So anyway, uh beside the point. Um, is there anybody here who's a GSR? Fantastic. So I don't know if you guys got passed along the most recent um self-support article that was um our delegate Todd K forwarded to our awesome area 23 secretary. Spruce. Our awesome Area 23 secretary. Um, he went through to be able to forward that out to um the mailing list in Area 23. And I believe that that would include our district committee member um from up here, Sean. And um there is a great article that is written by, I believe it's a trustee, um, who went through to be able to share about her her experience with self-support. Um, the articles that have been written are a way to be able to generate thought for the fellowship, to be able to be aware of, like, kind of don't forget about New York when thinking about self-support. Um, I recently have had a chance to be able to um to grow in this, but I'm I'm gonna uh back up for a second to be able to say that um the that the most recent uh article that was written about self support. Sort of matches a lot of my prior history with I'm just gonna put in air quotes self-support, right? There there wasn't any self-support going on before I hit the rooms of AA and even after I hit the rooms of AA, right? It was always, hey dad, can you get me out of another one? You know, I can't quite pay the bills, can't quite, you know, make ends meet. I don't bother telling you how much it is that I'm spending on drinking every single night. But, you know, that anyway, um, until there finally came the answer, no. Um, you might imagine a resentment having come from that uh massively. Um, but I can also say it was the worst, best word I ever heard. I gratefully can say that today. Um, you know, there was a lot of money that I borrowed from my dad. Uh fortunately, uh, there is a step eight and nine that I got a chance to be able to go through and make amends and um had continued. Uh my dad has since passed away. Um, but obviously, this particular tradition not only is part of our home group, our events that happen in Alcoholics Anonymous, the convention that happens, the, you know, just all of the different events, but also our inner group, right, that goes through to be able to carry out AA business. But it also involves New York. Is there anybody here who has donated directly personally to General Service Office? Does anybody, is there anybody who didn't know that you could donate directly to General Service Office? I hadn't, I'm I'm I like I had no idea for a very long time. I just kind of thought, oh, it's the secretary's job to be able to go through and write the checks out when they do the group split and we make the decision. And so um I in going through to be able to learn, um, you can go online to be able to um go to just AA.org. Um, I do like everything on my phone. I work on a computer all day long and it's just my phone in after hours. Um, but there's like three bars up top. You can click it and you can put um, you know, make a contribution. Um, I've done that for our group when I've served as group secretary. Um, I am back serving as group secretary again because we have a small home group right now, but all good. Um, but I get a chance to be able to make a personal contribution. That can be one dollar. You can five dollars. Um, but maybe you could do it for 18 months or 90 days, right? I mean, that's it and at the same point in time. Uh, being here is more important than if you'd I have absolutely had times where I have that extra dollar to be able to go through and do. Believe me, I have absolutely been that. Today, uh, thanks to Alcoholics Anonymous and being self-supporting through my own contributions. I actually can go through to be able to make a monthly contribution for my birthday amount. Used to be I could I could only do one one year, right? Like I'm five, whoa, I can make a five-dollar, you know, contribution to AA. Um, so um I've learned today in my personal life that um that I get to be self-supporting through my own contributions in my home as well, too. And um I I have learned, uh I I am an accountant as well, too. And I have learned, uh, you can you can probably take this to the bank, though you I don't think you're ever gonna read it in an AA piece of literature. There are always more places to spend money than there is money available. It's the laws of budgeting, just putting it out there. Um so um I get to be able to practice in my home uh that favorite uh mantra that I've learned to uh hate, love, love now, uh the word no. Uh you can just ask my husband about that. Anyway. Uh tradition eight. I love that AA is not professional. And I also love reading about the history of this tradition as well, too, and specifically Bill's experiences. Um uh what I also love is the traditions checklist. Anybody know, have you has anybody not seen the traditions checklist? So lovely. I can just say that is a part of Grapevine. So if you go to aagrapevine.org, out there, you can just do a little search for traditions checklist. Ron has the real official copy. I have the printed off the computer copy of it, which is where I found. Um, there are many times um that like um if you come to a um uh an area assembly, our current literature chair, many times will have copies of that available. They are, he does not have them available. Good the grapevine. Well, okay, so I still thought I know as past the area literature chair person, I had some copies of it. So that's the only reason that I say that. Um, but anyway, the bottom line is that there are some really incredible questions to be able to ask yourself personally as well as your group um about the traditions. And um, and this uh the traditions checklist, just to be able to, again, credit where credit is due, it says these questions were originally published in the AA Grapevine in conjunction with a series on the 12 traditions that began in November 1969. I was alive then, some weren't, ran through September 1971. While they were originally intended primarily for individual use, many AA groups have used them since as a basis for wider discussion. So um the two questions in particular to me that came up on Tradition 8 that um, I don't know, rang a bell or two, that said, do I try to sound like an AA do I try to sound in AA like an expert on alcoholism or on recovery or on medicine or sociology on AA itself, on psychology, on spiritual matters, or heaven help me, this is what it says, even on humility. So questions to ponder for yourself. Here is the one that really struck me. I those other questions struck me as well. Do I make an effort to understand what AA employees do? What workers in other alcoholism agencies do? Can I distinguish clearly among them? So if you would like to be able to know a little bit more about what an AA employee does, you could even ask Mr. Bruce, because he has been a past uh AA employee. Tradition nine, I'm gonna try to be able to zing through the rest of these so we can hear some real important stuff from Chad. So Tradition 9, we ought never be organized. I can get behind that one. Can you? Anyway, um, but we do get things done, right? In AA. Um, we live one day at a time and we do make plans. There's gonna be a 2028 Indiana State Convention held in Evansville. You can also ask the Area 23 in 2028 Indiana State Convention chair, Bruce, for more information about that. It was great that he wasn't speaking today, wasn't it? You've heard his name more than mine. Um, but did you know also, is there anybody who did not know in 2035 celebrating AA's 100th year anniversary? Indiana, Indianapolis specifically, right? So we are going through to be able to celebrate. So what I'm just the only reason I'm saying that is that like we do organize enough to be able to get things done, right? Um, so um my my first sponsor, Clara, and I'm just gonna say there is God, there is Clara, and then there is Bruce. And Clara has since passed, and Michaeline, my current sponsor, knows Clara, and so they kind of sit on the same level. And uh Bruce is super happy though, because he at least made the podium. But my first sponsor went through to be able to tell me that, you know, we can make plans in life in general. I can't plan the outcome. Um and I also get a chance, uh, according to this tradition as well, too, to remember that I am responsible to those I serve. We are responsible to those we serve. Tradition 10. Um, man, whenever somebody tries to be able to start saying something that might be a bit um sharp, controversial, ooh, you just know that's gonna be a live topic. Um, I'm really grateful today to be able to share that. Sounds like an outside issue. So I don't have to participate in conversations that are an outside issue. I have no opinion on outside issues. Um, this tradition helps me to be able to swim in my own lane. That's what that does. And I'm sure that others are grateful for that too. So, um, tradition 11, attraction rather than promotion, and anonymity at the level of Facebook. Popping that out there. So um, I wish I could uh make AA the attractive part of uh this particular tradition, the attraction rather than promotion, um, as well as anonymity at the level of uh press, radio, and film. Um and I realize that this is being broadcast um out there, and so hopefully it is remaining within the anonymity uh that uh we have been uh told that it will be. So I thank you very much for that. Um there are a lot of people when I walked in the rooms that made AA incredibly attractive, and I'm so grateful for them. Um, you know, uh one of those examples I'm just gonna say was uh thank you, Kathleen, for reading our set-aside prayer to begin with, because um I had the privilege of knowing uh Don P. Who was a past uh trustee at large for Alcoholics Anonymous. And I am just gonna say that I have read in places that he uh could be attributed credit for coming up with that particular prayer. And um I have a love for general service, uh, specifically because of Don P. Um, in addition to Clara, uh always Clara. Um, Don P was one of the first people to be able to help carry the message of Alcoholics Anonymous into Russia. And I know that there are a few people that could be as gray-haired if you didn't visit Kayla on a bi-monthly basis, um, that that would go through to be able to remember that once upon a time, it wasn't a matter of like, you don't go into Russia and you don't come out of Russia, right? There's just kind of this big wall that sits between the US and Russia. And Don went in to be able to carry the message, and he came back to uh one of the service weekends down in Clifty Falls uh a long, long time ago, and uh started sharing about his experience with that. And uh at the time he shared that uh the longest person sober, this is what I recall. I'm just gonna say that if anybody remembers differently, thank you for letting me know that it is different than what I'm remembering. Um, that um the oldest person sober in Russia was about five years sober. And I'm just gonna say I felt a particular kinship with my Russian friends um who I never knew uh because I loved vodka. So I'm just putting it out there. We had a bond. Uh they they didn't know it, but I had a bond with people in Russia. And so um having a chance to be able to, I was sober about five years at the time that I heard Don share about that. And I just was hook line and sinker in in love with the the parts of Alcoholics Anonymous that were not only carrying the message to the person walking in the door in my home group or the meetings that I attended, but also carrying that message into my comrades in Russia. Um anyway, that uh that is what I can say. Um as far as uh anonymity at the level of Facebook, um, all I can say is that um, you know, um I love being able to celebrate sobriety like there's nobody's business, uh, truly do. Um the one thing that I know is that for um, and this is my opinion, boy, I'm putting my opinion out here. This is not anywhere in literature, this is just my opinion. I don't know who else could be tagged to be tagged or a friend of. If I go through to be able to post a token or if there's a picture that might have the 12 steps and the 12 traditions behind me, where directly I am associating my face in a public manner with Alcoholics Anonymous. And to be able to go through and say, hey, I'm sober, uh, I've I've found a new way of living. Absolutely, man. Um, it's just when you get that um that close affiliation with Alcoholics Anonymous and my face. Um, but then I also run the risk of somebody else whose future employer might be going out to be able to look on Facebook to be able to see that, oh, Bruce was tagged in that. And how does he know Bruce? So, anyway, um, I just it's just one of those things to be able to think about. Um so tradition 12. Let's get anonymous. Um I um I went through to be able to, I love uh going through to be able to look up in dictionary um the meaning of words and anonymity means unidentifiable. Um I uh used to work in corporate America, um, and I very much protected my anonymity. Uh I this would not be recorded if I were still working kind of in, I would not be willing to be recorded if I were still in that position. Um and I just want to say that even in today's recover out loud world, um, which I have respect for in anonymity protected ways, that's just my personal, that's my personal, um, it is extremely important for me to be able to respect your right to anonymity because I don't know what you want to protect and not protect. Um, so I do not have the right to be able to go through and bust your anonymity. Um, so um the real importance of anonymity, though, is back to tradition one. It's still not about me, it's about we and the alcoholic who still is to be stumbling into our doors. The last piece, and I will close with this, is uh just don't get me started on principles before personalities. I mentioned I work in corporate America. Enough said. My name's Lisa, I'm an alcoholic. Thanks for letting me share.