Articles

Taking Our Own Inventory By Jason D. dcm@area93district7.org One of the things we learn early in A.A. is the value of taking an honest look at ourselves. We do that personally through the Steps, but that same spirit of self-examination can also be useful in our groups and throughout our service...

Two Forms of Service, One Primary Purpose By Douglas W., (webservant@aascv.org) “Our Twelfth Step is never to be paid for, but those who labor in service for us are worthy of their hire.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 171) I didn’t find much inspiration in the meetings I attended over...

The Great Reality by Cathy Z When I first heard the words “The Great Reality,” I’m not sure I really understood what they meant. I thought God was something I had to go looking for. I thought peace was something that would come when everything in my life finally worked out. And I thought if I...

The Maintenance Plan: Daily Living in Steps 10, 11, and 12 By Kimberly C. kimberlycooperstudio@gmail.com When a person first approaches recovery, the initial stages often feel like an intensive emergency room intervention. The early steps are designed to halt the immediate crisis, clear away the...

Don’t Leave Before the Miracle Happens By Kimberly Cooper kimberlycooperstudio@gmail.com When I first came into Alcoholics Anonymous, I knew I needed to stop drinking. What I didn’t know was how strange it might feel to become sober. For the first month, I felt off. Not drunk. Not hungover. Not...

Understanding Anonymity By Douglas W.,(webservant@aascv.org) This article draws from A.A. Conference-approved literature and A.A. service resources, including Understanding Anonymity (P-47), A.A. Guidelines on Internet (MG-18), and A.A.’s public page “A.A. and Anonymity.” P-47 has been renamed,...

The Newcomer We Haven’t Met Yet By Jason D. dcm@area93district7.org It can be easy to lose sight of why we do the work of General Service. District meetings, committee reports, budgets, elections, workshop planning, and discussions about procedures may not seem exciting. At times, they can even...

Prayers By Douglas W., (webservant@aascv.org) ”Prayer and meditation are our principal means of conscious contact with God.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 96) If prayer feels awkward, confusing, or completely foreign to you right now, you’re in good company. That’s exactly where most of...

Five Things to Know About Sobriety By Kimberly Cooper kimberlycooperstudio@gmail.com Five Things to Know About Sobriety That Have Nothing to Do with Being Loved or Accepted by Others—and Everything to Do with Being Here for Yourself We often talk about sobriety as though its greatest reward is...

Tradition 7 of Alcoholics Anonymous By Judy F. Info@aascv.org Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions. “To conclude: Our spiritual way of life is safe for future generations if, as a Society, we resist the temptation to receive money from the outside...

Responsibility By Douglas W., (webservant@aascv.org) “When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of A.A. always to be there. And for that: I am responsible.” (Declaration of 30th Anniversary International Convention, 1965) Responsibility in General Service, and Service in General...

Step Seven: Thank You for Keeping Me Alive. Now You Can Go By Kimberly Cooper kimberlycooperstudio@gmail.com “Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.” When I first read the Seventh Step of Alcoholics Anonymous, I thought it sounded simple enough. Humbly ask God to remove your shortcomings....

Status Quo By Judy F. Info@aascv.org “Yet how many of us, for example, would presume to declare, “Well, I’m sober and I’m happy. What more can I want, or do? I’m find the way I am.” We know that the price of such self-satisfaction is an inevitable backslide, punctuated at some point by a very rude...

Service and General Service By Douglas W., (webservant@aascv.org) Often attributed in recovery circles; and in A.A. language, I hear the same truth in “Freely ye have received; freely give …” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, p. 110) A little over a week ago I was asked to lead a meeting, and I...

The Search for a Higher Power By Kimberly Cooper kimberlycooperstudio@gmail.com The word God almost kept me out of Alcoholics Anonymous. Like many people, I heard the word God and immediately recoiled. I was thrown out of Catholic school in seventh grade. I imagined judgment, rigid religion,...

Self-Support By Carolyn W. Hello friends! I’m Carolyn and I am an alcoholic. I am currently serving as a Class B (Alcoholic) Trustee and an AAWS Director. I will be rotating soon and I am very grateful for this wonderful opportunity to reflect on my experience with self support. I imagine if you...

Personal Move By Douglas (webservant@aascv.org) “Yes, there is a substitute and it is vastly more than that. It is a fellowship in Alcoholics Anonymous. There you will find release from care, boredom and worry… Thus we find the fellowship, and so will you.” (Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 152) I’m...

The Actor Leaves the Stage By Kimberly C. kimberlycooperstudio@gmail.com In the Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book, in Chapter 5, “How It Works,” there is a passage often referred to as the “actor” passage (pages 60–62). It describes the alcoholic as an actor trying to run the whole show — arranging...

The Recovering Corker Column info@aascv.org Dear Corker, I am curious about Tradition 7. What does it mean for a group to be self-supporting? -- Just Curious Dear Curious, I have gone to the 7th Tradition in the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions book. For AA groups to exist and function we had to...

Spring Cleaning as a Newcomer Akeem A.(rashinatkinsonperez@gmail.com) The month of April and experiencing the 4th step. The 4th step was and continues to remain one of my most important steps and an assessment of myself. Before the gift of sobriety I was unaware about anything pertaining to a...

Getting Involved in Pre-Conference By Douglas W. (webservant@aascv.org) How to Have a Voice in General Service I used to think “General Service” was something other people did—people with more time, people who knew the “right words,” people who had been around longer or had some kind of special...

A Day In The Life Of SCV Central Office By Judy F., info@aascv.org Hi, I’m Judy and I’m an alcoholic as well as your special worker at your local Santa Clarita Valley Central Office. It’s Monday, March 23rd of 2026 and the office was opened at 10:00am to the ringing of the phone. Someone calling...

Protecting Our Fellowship By Douglas W.,webservant@aascv.org Protecting Our Fellowship: Why Conference-Approved Literature Matters When I first came to Alcoholics Anonymous, I was handed the book of Alcoholics Anonymous that connected me to millions of alcoholics worldwide. We read the same pages,...

The Recovering Corker Column info@aascv.org Dear Recovering Corker, Dear Corker, How do people typically feel at their very first meeting of AA? What can I expect? Thank you. Anonymous Dear Anonymous, At the first meeting there may be mixed emotions. Nervousness.  Anxiety about not knowing anyone,...

White Knuckling A Daily Code for the Newcomer By Kimberly C. kimberlycooperstudio@gmail.com There is a phase of sobriety no one romanticizes. It happens before you have a sponsor. Before you understand the language. Before meetings feel like home. Before the word “God” means anything other than...

Giving Through Scott H. Chair of the General Service Board I had the opportunity to stand on the stage at the 2025 International Convention and gain a real-time perspective on the line in Tradition One where it says that “each of us is a small part of a great whole.” While we may each be a small...

Constants By Judy F. Info@aascv.org I have been attending a book study workshop for years and soon we will be finishing up our in-depth study of the 12 Traditions. Each time we have gone through the Twelve and Twelve we go a little deeper and since it is basically the same group of women, I get to...

The Recovering Corker Column info@aascv.org Dear Recovering Corker, Do I have to call myself an “alcoholic” at meetings? And do I have to talk? Dear Friend,No and no. In AA meetings people often introduce themselves by stating their name and their disease, but you don’t have to. You can simply say...

The Home Group By Douglas W., webservant@aascv.org This article is based on a Conference Approved pamphlet called The AA Group...Where It All Begins (P-16). Before I continue, I want to emphasize that Conference Approved Literature is important. Many people skip reading and studying these...

10,000 Hours By Kimberly C. kimberlycooperstudio@gmail.com They say it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. I’ve always loved that idea, not because it’s neat or motivational-poster tidy, but because it’s so inconvenient. Ten thousand hours is a long time. Long enough to get bored....