The No Nonsense Group Sunday Meeting in Redondo Beach, CA

Leader shares for 15 minutes and selects the topic from the book.

Again, my name is Larry Thomas and I'm an alcoholic and having to pick a favorite part of this book for me is it's kind of like having a gardener wanting to pick his favorite flower in his garden because over a period of time,

there's not one thing in that book that you read that doesn't apply to your life today.

And

coming to see you guys is one of those things that that I personally look forward to.

And I came across three things

that kind of reminded me of what we're doing today. And we've got some new folks with us, and hopefully that something will happen to them today called identification.

And one of those things that I read was in a vision for you and said he had a desperate desire to stop, but he saw no way out, for he had earnestly tried many avenues of escape, painfully aware of being somehow abnormal. Right? You know,

Well, he gets it right to the point, doesn't he? You know, the band did not fully realize what it meant to be alcoholic.

Which seems to be the baffling part of our malady here is that for so long, so many of us, like myself and some folks in this room, we thought that it was just a matter of not drinking. That if we wouldn't drink, if we stopped drinking, we would be all right. And what happens to the alcoholic of our type

given any reasonable excuse? There's some folks that drink just like us and they can get a bad liver and they can stop.

They can get threatened with another jail sentence and they stop. They can get threatened to be kicked out of the house by her and they stop. But not so with the alcoholic of our type. Alcoholics of our type. The only thing that sobriety ever squeezes out of my mind after a period of days or weeks is that idea that drove me mad, which was this time it's going to be different.

I've got to find a way to keep this stuff in my life if it's the last thing that I do. And for Alcoholics of our type,

sobriety drives us to drink time and time and time again. And we stay sober as long as we can, and we stay drunk as long as we can, and there's never anything in between. And we sit in these rooms and we hear folks seemingly say, 30 days ago, I was on the streets of Los Angeles.

Now I'm the president of the Bank of America.

My God, if I just start drinking, you know, maybe I'll be blessed as Val. You know what I mean?

And so we begin to hear these things and Alcoholics Anonymous at an early age in our sobriety. And this is almost as if with that, if we sit here, some kind of magic wand is going to come over and just move us toward the right job and, you know, just shield us from life's little bullets and, you know, and just put us in this cocoon, you know what I mean?

And what happens is that what a A is going to do to you, it's going to put you smack dab in the middle of life.

The very thing you've been running from, it's going to fix you smack dab in the middle of life. And you better have a program and you better find a power

and you better tap into this thing

because there is no middle of the road answer. If there was, we'd be all gathered up there tonight. You know what I mean?

I'm the type of guy that sits in these meetings and when I hear the guy reading says that science may one day accomplish this, but he hasn't done so yet. I'm back there going, God, are they still looking? I'm still holding out colds, you know what I mean? I mean, it wasn't too long ago we heard that there was a cure for alcoholism in Switzerland. And it comes in the form of a pill, right?

My first thought is I wondered what two would do.

You crush them up maybe, or something,

which makes that first step so difficult to the alcoholic of our type, you know, admit that we were powerless over alcohol.

I know what you're getting at.

I know what you're getting at. You want me to admit that I have an alkaline that I can't drink anymore. I I know what you're getting at. You say 24 hours a day at a time, but I know you mean forever.

I'm a smart guy. I'm in a A. I've worked so well, you know, And you see, I can't imagine life without it.

I can't imagine life without alcohol.

Oh, yeah. I, you know, I, we've been forced to stop by incarceration. I mean, there's been times that sometimes we, we stop just to get a fresh drunk going again, you know, get that old shit out, you know what I mean?

But the idea of living without alcohol, you've got to be kidding. I mean, you know, we've got the Christmas coming up and shit, you know,

But there comes a time in every alcoholic's life

and which if I, if I have any prayer for any new person, I, I don't hope that you become desperate or anything like I, I hope you run out of hope

because there comes a time in every alcoholic's life

that there just isn't any other place to go.

There comes a time in every alcoholic's life when you buy the idea of not drinking

your whip and you begin to ponder that idea. And you can't.

And then we start on what our book calls like Doctor Bob, that frightful drinking.

Everything in you wants to stop you. You bought the idea. Yeah. I don't want to do this anymore. I'm tired of the faces. I'm tired of the memories. I'm tired of hurting people. I know. It's happened to me physically. I don't want to go to anymore. I know. And yet you can't stop.

Where do you go when you're like that?

Where do you go when you feel that different?

That leads me to our co-founder

which I had. Here we go. And if you, some of you guys remembered Bill's little flight to the the hospital

and his childhood friend came up there and they started taking him through these 12 proposals. And something happened to Bill in that bed.

And

he had this profound experience after going through the steps. He did what doesn't lay in there full of, you know, dextrose and shit. You know, his buddy came up to him and took him through the steps as they were at that time. He talked about his powerlessness. He talked about maybe you should come to believe in something. You know, he come to believe in looking at some of your defects and some of the people you've harmed. He, he was bringing them through these proposals.

And Bill laid in that town's hospital

and got that wind through the window and got this

light and this, this spiritual uplift that lasted all of 15 seconds, you know what I mean?

And for years, I used to think that that was the spiritual experience that was supposed to happen to me and you as a result of these steps.

And then what happens to me and you? As we stay sober and we begin to read this book, we come across two paragraphs down

and I love this.

This is after the wind through the window

while I lay in the hospital bed. Just seconds afterwards, while I lay in the hospital bed,

the thought came that there were thousands of hopeless Alcoholics who might be glad to have what had been so freely given to me. Perhaps I could help some of them, and they in turn might help others. Now how about that?

Tell me if that ain't the spiritual experience.

I believe for me

that's what he was hoping would happen to me as a result of these steps. What happened to him immediately? I used to think, OK, it was a blinding. What happened to him immediately was the idea of working with others.

That's what happened immediately. It wasn't the wind through the window.

He immediately got that thought of working with others and carrying this message, perpetuating this gift. And for folks like me and you, we don't get that our first day of sober. We don't get nothing. We are, we are restless and irritable, discontented and kind of pissed off. We wound up here, really, You know what I mean? But the idea of helping others within our first 30 seconds of sobriety,

It takes me you, we are the educational variety.

That's what happens over a long period of time,

is that eventually, you know that that's the thing that's going to keep you sold, that it ain't going to be the good job and The Good Wife and the good education, and those things will come to all who work for it. You don't have to come to a A. It just takes hard work and good fortune, that's all.

But the thing that he's hoping happens to you is not that you'll get sober. We've seen folks get sober by the millions and they disappear. What he's hoping happens to you is that you will be propelled to perpetuate this gift. He doesn't need any more cheerleaders. He needs workers. He needs people to carry this message. Those two guys

talking to that man on the bed, what do you think they're talking about?

Hey, you need to work more overtime, pal.

I don't think that's what's going on in that picture.

He's hoping you will perpetuate what is our primary purpose? To stay sober and carry this message. What does the other book tell us? Seek ye first the Kingdom

put all your my sponsor tells me, Larry, put all your efforts in to stay in sober son and the rest of your life will take care of itself. And the more you pecker around with your personal life, the least time you'll spend in a a. You put all your eggs in here and your personal life will take care of itself. The miracle of our life and some of the folks in here and hopefully some of our new friends is that you will experience one day that your search is open,

that everything you need to make you happy will be given to you by the program of alcoholic phones.

Anything that hinders that happiness will be given to you by the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. The Alcoholics Great search is over.

You don't have to go anywhere else to get anything else. It all happens here. Men like me and you, women like me and you, we all finally found a place where we can safely grow up.

And that's what it's all about. We are immature. It's not that we're alcoholic and we got alcoholic. We're immature for God sakes. You know, listen to us. Give me that book. That's my chair. Give me that coffee.

I want to be secondary, you know, immature. You know what I mean? We are people who have very little character. Our first instinct isn't to volunteer for shit. Yeah, I'll do it. That's a good. My first day I got 3 answers to anybody that ever asked me anything to do. I can't. I won't. And why? That's my first instincts, man. And what happens to people and Alcoholics Anonymous like us is that

we get, the book says. We're undisciplined.

What is our 10th step in the 12 and 12 talk about

between 91 and 93, you little book buggers. I urge you to investigate the pages 91 to 93 in your 12 and 12 on Step 10 because they will talk about the disciplines,

not maintenance step, the disciplines that you practice every day and you try to adhere to. You practice those disciplines and you watch yourself grow. You take care of your meetings and your commitments in your Home group and you'll eventually be able to take that same respect that you have for this atmosphere. You begin to take it to your work atmosphere, your relationship atmosphere, and everywhere you go. You won't be good just for an hour and a half. None of that crap,

you'll take it with you, works because that's where the real a A member shines, not in here. Everybody can be good for an hour and a half when somebody's watching, right Paul? You know what I mean?

You know what I mean? Me too. Me too, man. You know, under the guides of a sponsor. I'm

as soon as he gets out of town, I'm, you know,

it's just a matter of seconds. You know what I mean?

So

with this, and you know what you're like when you're away from us has everything to do with type of a a member. You are without telling anybody you are.

What do you like on that road? What do you like at the office? What do you like at home? That's the a A member.

You're a trusted servant. What does that mean? That you're running around with a book? No,

you're a trusted servant. That means God's hoping he can trust you to carry this message.

He's hoping you'll be that a A member without anybody watching over you. He's trusting you with these principles,

you know. Umm,

and then what happens to folks like me and you eventually, and this is

This Is Us because

since I met you guys a year ago

and I ran into in Pasadena,

I can't wait to see you.

You see,

in our Home group on Monday night, we got about 30 people that are greeters because we don't know what the hell to do with them.

Greet people, you know what I mean? We got a guy with one arm greeting people.

Just greet.

Now, what happens to you is, is when you're new, we stick you in that greeting line. What happens to people like me who go through that greeting line? And I've got one of the gentlemen with me today, Michael,

is that you see him in that greeting line and you come across them with his 15 days

and then as the months go past, you pass them by in two months and you don't have AT shirt on anymore. He's got a button shirt

and he's no longer after your 4th month of passing through that line. He's no longer looking. He's looking up when he's shaking your hand

around 5:00 or six months after he's getting through his inventory. The guy kind of got that shine in his eyes,

got a little spark in.

Come around eight or nine months, it's a whole different guy

and all you've done is pass by

and I come and see you guys. Pasadena, or wherever you bandits will have me,

and I can't help but recognize this paragraph.

Life will take on new meaning

to watch people recover. You can't deny your eyes.

You can get fooled by a tape

and you can get overcome with hearsay, but you can't deny your eyes to see them, help others,

to watch loneliness vanish, to see a fellowship grow about you, to have a host of friends. This is an experience you must not miss. We know you will not want to miss it. Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is a bright lot of our lives. How about that?

How about that?

But look where you are when you're reading this,

right, Andre? Look where you are. He knows what I'm talking about. They put this in a place

way after the step. You don't come here and you know, you wish people would vanish is what you would do. You know what I mean?

But these put these little things in a certain place. Hoping that these happen to you.

You guys are the highlight of my day. I'm here because I have nothing better to do.

You know what I mean? And I hope I never do. I hope I never have anything more important than being around people of Alcoholics Anonymous. The reason why I like being around you guys is I become what I'm around

and I'd rather be around a group of folks who are enthusiastic about this way of life and help fan that fire then be like some of the old timers in some of these meetings who are trying to talk newcomers out of doing shit. You don't need to do that. You're going way too many meetings. I don't want to be that guy.

I don't want to be that guy. I had a guy come up to me. I shared at that San Pedro meeting last night, 10 years sober,

he says. Larry says I want what you have. I know you don't.

No, you don't. You may want to feel like I do, but you don't want what I have. No, I, I, I want what you have. And I said, well, I said, what seems to be going They don't work for me.

I said, what'd you say? He says, hey, don't work for me.

I says, young man, you don't seem to understand. It don't work for me either.

It doesn't work for Caesar. It doesn't work for Hector. It doesn't work for Paul. We work for it. You need to get your head around that. This isn't a place where you come and get. The only thing you're going to get is you're going to be divinely inconvenient for the rest of your day.

We have to do the uncomfortable to get comfortable.

And so for those folks who are new here tonight, I hope you stay around long enough

for you to become part of the miracle that you wish happens to you. And you know how that happens as you begin to serve the thing you want so much from.

I used to do that third step prayer like this. OK, I'm yours, what are you going to do for me? Threw it back down and you get your ass to work. You know what I mean?

That third step, surrender, is all about,

It's like punching in at work.

What do you want me to do? What do you want me to do? There's work to be done here. And that's why we're sober. So I, I, I can't thank you guys enough for having me come down here. And, and I can't wait to hear what you have to say. Thank you very much.

I just want to say one yeah, go for it.

Our first tradition talks about our common welfare should come first. Personal recovery depends upon a a unity.

And when I personally think about the traditions, I don't think about Akron or New York. I think about my Home group.

And unity, to me, isn't how many people you can fit in the room. That's chaos.

Unity is how many people you can get in that room to do the same thing.

Now one of the most powerful things about your Home group here

and God bless you guys for doing this

all through the night.

No matter who talked,

they all said the same thing.

And what that does for a group like mine and yours is that no matter who that newcomer talks to, he's going to get the same answer.

No matter if he goes, DeAndre, you with the bad haircut,

no matter who he goes to, he's going to get the same program of action. You know,

that speaks volumes. That speaks volumes. He can't claim difference no more. You know what I mean? And when you were, when DeAndre was sharing about our commitment to service. Hang on for a minute.

Not too long ago, President Obama

was presenting Congressional Medal of Honors to see him war veterans.

One of the guys was Brian Anderson, and he gave him a Medal of Honor. And Brian's story was this, that in Vietnam, he caught a bomb in front of him and blew off both of his legs.

And his buddy was 20 yards away. And he seen his buddy laying down and he crawled over to his buddy and a grenade came in and Brian caught it

and went to throw it away and the grenade exploded his arm off.

But he saved his buddies life

and he's left with a half a body and one arm

and the reporter at the end of the ceremonies interviewed him, said Brian, after all you've been through, do you have any regrets? Do you have any regrets whatsoever? And he looked the reporter in the eye like we looked at each other tonight. And he says I've lost two legs in an arm to a country that I love.

If they want my good arm, they can have it.

You guys gave me my life. Alcoholics Anonymous gave us your lives. If they want it, they can have it.

That's the commitment of service. We are here not to give

fear to ourselves, to this thing that's saving our life, love and service. And thank you guys for having me.

Let's thank Larry for leading the meeting.

PD phoneless announcement. My name is Peter, I'm an alcoholic.

Phone numbers of people that are

the phone and be glad to help you. They're on the table along with whatever other literature you might need. Thank you, thank you Peter. If you want to be a part of the group conscience and a nonsense group, we have the business meeting which takes place the 2nd Sunday of the month. After this meeting, which would be next week, and after a moment of silence for the alcoholic who still suffers, can Mike please list out on the prayer of choice?

You,

our Father, our Father, who are in heaven, hallowed be thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You give us this day Our Daily Bread, and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us, not intendation, but deliver us from evil, for thy Kingdom

and the power and the glory forever.

Thank you, young man. Thank you.

Good to see you. You too. Thank you. You did great. Thank you.

Thank you, buddy. Thank you very much.

Come here, you little nut.

Three weeks over. On that week you had all the nuts. Here. Tonight I see a few bolts. I know it.

So

you guys taken off to your house,

Mike Back, Silver and Gardena.

We'll see what makes up.

Thanks for having me. Thank you very much.

Good to see you, man. Thanks. Hey, good prayer, man.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Good job

you done with this

and where do you live

now? We got one meeting on Monday

and on Wednesday we

're down that way, you know, some of the time.

All right, we'll see you when we can and you can call and my name is Peter. I'm on there and I stay up late and go to Ozone. I'd be probably.

I know I expect that.

Used to be a monkey. I Yeah,

yeah.