| Anonymous TimesPublished by North Orange County InterGroup Association of Alcoholics Anonymous Groups, Inc. (714) 773-HELP 1661 E. Chapman Avenue, Suite 1H Fullerton, CA 92831 www.aanoc.org |
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STEP 11 Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out. |
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TRADITION 11 Long Form Our relations with the general public should be characterized by personal anonymity. We think A.A. ought to avoid sensational advertising. Our names and pictures as A.A. members ought not be broadcast, filmed, or publicly printed. Our public relations should be guided by the principle of attraction rather than promotion. There is never need to praise ourselves. We feel it better to let our friends recommend us. |
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| CONCEPT 11 Long Form While the Trustees hold final responsibility for A.A.’s world service administration, they should always have the assistance of the best possible standing committees, corporate service directors, executives, staffs, and consultants. Therefore the composition of these underlying committees and service boards, the personal qualifications of their members, the manner of their induction into service, the systems of their rotation, the way in which they are related to each other, the special rights and duties of our executives, staffs, and consultants, together with a proper basis for the financial compensation of these special workers, will always be matters for serious care and concern. The Trustees Cannot Do It Alone The success of our Trustees relies heavily on those they work with to get the job done. Whether it is: - Non-Trustee Committee Members,
- Our Corporation’s Directors (A.A. World Services, Inc. / A.A. Grapevine, Inc.),
- Executives or Staff Members at the General Service Office (GSO)…
Our Board of Trustees needs a strong dedication and quality of work to fulfill the actions given them by A.A. Groups (via the General Service Conference) in the U.S. and Canada. |
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11TH STEP PRAYERs Derived from the text found on page 86 of Alcoholics Anonymous - the Big Book |
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Morning Prayer God, direct my thinking today so that it be empty of self pity, dishonesty, self-will, self-seeking and fear. God, inspire my thinking, decisions and intuitions. Help me to relax and take it easy. Free me from doubt and indecision. Guide me through this day and show me my next step. God, show me what I need to do to take care of any problems. I
ask all these things that I may be of maximum service to you and my fellow man. In the spirit of the Steps I pray. Amen. |
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| Nightly Prayer God, forgive me where I have been resentful, selfish, dishonest or afraid today. Help me to not keep anything to myself but to discuss it all openly with another person - show me where I owe an apology and help me make it. Help me to be kind and loving to all people. Use me in the mainstream of life, God. Free me of worry, remorse or morbid (sick) reflections that I may be of usefulness to others. Amen. |
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North Orange County Intergroup presents Ugly Christmas Sweater Comedy Night Santa talks about the naughty and the nice, but what about the ugly? To find out which of the three lists you’re on, come to our ugly Christmas sweater comedy night. |
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Divine Dissatisfaction: What "Thirst" Reveals It would seem that on a chill, rain-pelting early winter evening in late 1940, as Wilson almost tangibly felt himself being wrapped ever more tightly in a gloomy pall of spiritual darkness, he sat forlorn in the sparsely furnished clubhouse rooms in which he and Lois were then living. Disconsolate, his former way of escape - alcohol - forever denied, Wilson nursed his many shattered hopes and recent stinging disappointments in self-pitying and frustrating reverie. Just then, when he was at the very nadir of that abyss, a veritable gleam of light came literally knocking at his door. Bill's first meeting with Father Dowling. That evening "Father Ed" shared with Wilson an understanding of the spiritual life that then and subsequently seemed always to speak to Bill's condition. Bill had unburdened himself to Ebby. As this evening with Father Dowling wore on, Bill came to feel that he himself was finally "taking his Fifth". He went on to share with his new sponsor the thoughts and feelings behind those actions and omissions. He told of his high hopes and plans, and spoke also about his anger, despair, and mounting frustrations. The Jesuit listened and quoted Matthew: "Blessed are they who do hunger and thirst." God's chosen, he pointed out, were always distinguished by their yearnings, their restlessness, their thirst. In pain, Bill asked if there was ever to be any satisfaction. The priest almost snapped back: "Never. Never any." He continued in a gentler tone, describing a "divine dissatisfaction" that which would keep Wilson going, almost reaching out for unattainable goals, for only by so reaching would he attain what - hidden from him - were God's goals. This acceptance that his dissatisfaction, that his very "thirst" could be divine, was one of Dowling's great gifts to Bill Wilson and through him, to Alcoholics Anonymous. Kurtz, E. (1979). Prelude to Maturity: October 1939 - March 1941. Not-God: A History of Alcoholics Anonymous (pp 97-98). Hazelden. |
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2021/2022 NOCCO Service Board |
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* Live email links embedded as permitted by NOCCO Service Board members |
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These articles appeared in the main Cleveland newspaper, the Plain Dealer, just five months after the first A.A. group was formed in Cleveland. The articles resulted in hundreds of calls for help from suffering alcoholics who reached out for the hope that the fledgling Alcoholics Anonymous offered. The thirteen reliable members of the Cleveland group handled as many as 500 calls in the first month following the appearance of Davis’ articles. The following year Cleveland could boast 20 to 30 groups with hundreds of members. |
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| Alcoholics Anonymous Makes Its Stand Here
by ELRICK B. DAVIS
October 23, 1939 Cleveland Plain Dealer |
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In a previous installment, Mr. Davis outlined the plan of Alcoholics Anonymous, an organization of former drinkers who have found a solution to liquor in association for mutual aid. This is the second of a series. |
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Religion There is no blinking the fact that Alcoholics Anonymous, the amazing society of ex-drunks who have cured each other of an incurable disease, is religious. Its members have cured each other frankly with the help of God. Every cured member of the Cleveland Fellowship of the society, like every cured member of the other chapters now established in Akron, New York, and elsewhere in the country, is cured with the admission that he submitted his plight wholeheartedly to a Power Greater than Himself. He has admitted his conviction that science cannot cure him, that he cannot control his pathological craving for alcohol himself, and that he cannot be cured by the prayers, threats, or pleas of his family, employers, or friends. His cure is a religious experience. He had to have God’s aid. He had to submit to a spiritual housecleaning. Alcoholics Anonymous is a completely informal society, wholly latitudinarian in every respect but one. It prescribes a simple spiritual discipline, which must be followed rigidly every day. The discipline is fully explained in a book published by the society. Discipline That is what makes the notion of the cure hard for the usual alcoholic to take, at first glance, no matter how complete his despair. He wants to join no cult. He has lost faith, if he ever had it, in the power of religion to help him. But each of the cures accomplished by Alcoholics Anonymous is a spiritual awakening. The ex-drunk has adopted what the society calls “a spiritual way of life.” How, then, does Alcoholics Anonymous differ from the other great religious movements which have changed social history in America? Wherein does the yielding to God that saves a member of this society from his fatal disease, differ from that which brought the Great Awakening that Jonathan Edwards preached, or the New Light revival of a century ago, or the flowering of Christian Science, or the camp meeting evangelism of the old Kentucky-Ohio frontier, or the Oxford Group successes nowadays? |
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NOCCO Hotline - (714) 773-HELP (4357) We are available 24/7. All calls are confidential. Phones answered by sober volunteers. |
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NEW LITERATURE FOR NOVEMBER 101 Meeting Starters: A Guide to Better Twelve Step Discussions |
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| 101 Meeting Starters is a friendly, first-ever guide to making the most of Twelve Step meetings. Anyone who has participated in a Twelve Step meeting knows the benefit of these confidential forums for sharing the experience, strength, and hope that sustain recovery. Sometimes, however, meetings get sidetracked by irrelevant topics, dominant speakers, or other distractions, leaving attendees feeling frustrated or unfulfilled. This collection of dynamic Twelve Step "meeting starters" brings focus and meaning to group discussions with topics including "Dealing with Rejection," "Attracting Trouble," "Happy Coincidences," and "Live and Let Live. |
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$18.00 + plus tax NOCCO can take orders over the phone and ship to you. Call us at (714) 773-4577 for all of your A.A. literature needs. |
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NOCCO's Neighborhood Notables |
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November Birthdays It Works If You Work It, One Day At A Time. -------- Pete R. - 11/01/2012 - 9 Years Sandra F. - 11/01/1991 - 29 Years Tresa - 11/05/2018 - 3 Years Rick M. - 11/05/1970 - 51 Years Becky B. - 11/07/2007 - 14 Years Mario C. - 11/07/2019 - 2 Years Steve C. - 11/10/2019 - 2 Years Woody H. - 11/17/2009 - 12 Years Laura M. - 11/20/2017 - 4 Years Leslie G. - 11/21/1985 - 36 Years Terry V. - 11/23/1989 - 32 Years Terri P. - 11/25/2016 - 5 Years Catie W. - 11/27/2000 - 21 Years Nancy R. - 11/28/1985 - 36 Years Jay B. - 11/28/2018 - 3 Years -------- We want to start acknowledging yearly milestones in sobriety each month. Email faithb@aanoc.org with your month and date and we will add your annual birthday to our list. |
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Faithful Fivers Thank you for your August contributions of $5 to NOCCO. To join the Faithful Fivers club, go online to https://www.aanoc.org/7th-tradition. Every time you buy NOCCO a cup of coffee, an angel gets her wings! - (or something like that). |
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| November 2021 11/06/2021
11/13/2021
11/30/2021
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Please check the www.aanoc.org website regularly for more upcoming events. |
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Event Flyers - Click Image to Learn More |
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Do you have something special to report for our monthly neighborhood notables? Please email birthdays, celebrations, sober activities and other odds and ends to faithb@aanoc.org. |
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| InterGroup Meeting - Nov 10 @7:30pm Please join us at the next NOCCO InterGroup Meeting. InterGroup Meetings are held the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 7:30 pm. |
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| Group Contributions To help support local essential services, the General Service Conference suggests that individual groups, through an informed group conscience, adopt a specific contribution plan. Click below to see all of the Group Contributions from last month. |
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| Statement of Financial Position Each month, NOCCO provides accounting detail of income and expenses to indicate net profit or loss over the last month. This information is available to any group or member. Click below to see the financial detail from last month. |
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| NOCCO Appreciates Your 7th Tradition Support Even though meetings, 12-step services and operations have shifted to a hybrid environment, expenses continue as we navigate the re-opening of meetings, which underscores the importance of practicing the Seventh Tradition. We still stock literature, handle 12-step calls around the clock, and assist those with a desire to stop drinking. Your generous support is critical and appreciated. |
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Mail Checks To: North Orange County Intergroup Association (NOCCO) 1661 E Chapman Avenue - Suite 1H Fullerton, CA 92831 |
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General Service Announcements www.aa.org |
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Follow Grapevine and LaViña on Instagram |
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| The Grapevine Half-Hour Variety Hour Each week Don and Sam will interview a different member about their experience, strength and hope, in a casual "meeting after the meeting" manner. Special features will enhance each episode.
A new podcase episode will be available in English every Monday |
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Revised and New Items of AAWS Literature We are delighted to announce that several items of revised and new literature published in adherence with Advisory Actions of the 71st General Service Conference—reflecting the group conscience of our Fellowship—are now available. Also, other items will be coming soon! |
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Revised: A.A. Service Manual 2021-2023 A.A. Service Manual, 2021-2023 Combined with the Twelve Concepts for World Service [newly updated, revised and redesigned]. In English (BM-31), French (FBM-31) and Spanish (SBM-31) Available in downloadable PDF by Clicking Here |
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Corrections GSO's publishing director provided a verbal update on the viable options to make A.A. literature in digital formats available for alcoholics in correctional facilities. In collaboration with AA Grapevine, contracts are in place with several major vendors that provide tablets into correctional facilities. It was reported that much progress has been experienced within Canada as well. |
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I am Responsible. When anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA always to be there. For that, I am responsible. |
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Thanks to all contributors who support NOCCO. |
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© Copyright, 2024, North Orange County InterGroup Association of Alcoholics Anonymous Groups, Inc. • 1661 E. Chapman Avenue - Suite 1H, Fullerton CA 92831 |
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