Meeting direct link: https://zoom.gpbros.org

Meeting ID: 833 5082 9529 / Passcode: 908014

Date	Meeting Chair
Friday 12/20
Monday 12/23	Josh N-K
Friday 12/27
Monday 12/30
Friday 1/3
Monday 1/6	Josh N-K
Friday 1/10
Monday 1/13

(everything in bold is read by the moderator)

INTRO

Hello, my name is _______, and I am a recovering _______. Welcome this meeting of Sex Addicts Anonymous. Let’s start the meeting with a moment of silence followed by the serenity prayer.

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

We meet Monday and Friday and have adopted the SAA suggested meeting format.

Are there any newcomers on the call?

(If there are newcomers) Welcome! We’re very happy to have you here. Please stick around after the meeting and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

(If there aren’t any newcomers) Thanks to everyone for coming back.

OPENING READINGS

(Share screen and ask for a volunteer to read each section)

What is SAA?

Sex Addicts Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other so that they may find freedom from addictive sexual behavior and help others recover from sexual addiction.

Membership is open to all who share a desire to stop addictive sexual behavior. There is no other requirement.

SAA is supported through voluntary contributions from members. We are not affiliated with any other twelve-step programs, nor are we a part of any other organization. We do not support, endorse, or oppose outside causes or issues.

Sex Addicts Anonymous is a spiritual program based on the principles and traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous. We are grateful to AA for this gift which makes our recovery possible.

“Our Program”

“Attending SAA meetings starts us on a new way of life. But while the SAA fellowship supports our recovery, the actual work of recovery is described in the Twelve Steps. Meetings are forums for learning how to integrate the steps into our lives. Working the Twelve Steps leads to a spiritual transformation that results in sustainable relief from our addiction.

“When we start attending meetings of Sex Addicts Anonymous, many of us are surprised to meet people who are enjoying life, experiencing freedom from the painful, compulsive behaviors that had brought them to SAA. Listening to other members share about their recovery, we gradually realize that in order to make the same kind of progress, we need to be willing to do whatever it takes to get sexually abstinent, and to stay abstinent. We have learned from hard experience that we cannot achieve and maintain abstinence if we aren’t willing to change our way of life. But if we can honestly face our problems, and are willing to change, the Twelve Steps of SAA will lead to an awakening that allows us to live a new way of life according to spiritual principles. Taking these steps allows fundamental change to occur in our lives. They are the foundation of our recovery.”

[From Sex Addicts Anonymous, page 20]

The 12 Steps of SAA

We read these steps three at a time. I’ll start with the first three.

1. We admitted we were powerless over addictive sexual behavior—that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other sex addicts and to practice these principles in our lives.

“These Steps are the heart of our program. They contain a depth that we could hardly have guessed when we started. As we work them, we experience a spiritual transformation. Over time, we establish a relationship with a Power greater than ourselves, each of us coming to an understanding of a Higher Power that is personal for us. Although the Steps use the word “God” to indicate this Power, SAA is not affiliated with any religion, creed, or dogma. The program offers a spiritual solution to our addiction, without requiring adherence to any specific set of beliefs or practices. The path is wide enough for everyone who wishes to walk it.”

[From Sex Addicts Anonymous, page 20-21]

Thank you to all who read.

(Stop sharing screen)

CHECK-INS

Let’s take a moment to go around the room and introduce ourselves, stating our name and claim and sobriety date, if you so wish. I’ll go first.

(As latecomers join the meeting, ask them to quickly check in with their name and sobriety date.)

MEDITATION

Today, we’ll be reading from Answers in the Heart. Can we please have a volunteer read for us today?

Click here to open the reading (this link opens a new tab). Navigate to the page specified below, and share your screen.

Date	Page Number
Friday, December 20th	386
Monday, December 23nd	389
Friday, December 27th	393
Monday, December 30th	396
Friday, January 3th	12
Monday, January 6th	15
Friday, January 10th	19
Monday, January 13th	22

(Stop sharing screen)

Thank you ____ for reading today’s meditation to the group.

SHARING

Now it’s time for sharing!

In this meeting, we try to avoid topics that can lead to dissension or distraction. We try not to use offensive language, or descriptions that are too explicit. The emphasis is on honesty, recovery and healing, and how to apply the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions in our daily lives. We use the words ‘I’ or ‘we’ instead of ‘you’ when sharing about our recovery. We do not interrupt or give advice unless asked. We address our sharing to the whole group, not to one or more individuals. No cross talk, please. If someone feels another is getting too explicit, we encourage you to lower your volume your phone or computer, and message the host privately in the chat. The timekeeper will give you a one minute warning, then remind you when your time has expired. Would someone like to volunteer to be our spiritual timekeeper for today? Thank you for your service! Let’s do ___ minute shares.

(base the length of shares on the number of people on the call, leaving enough time for everyone to share)

Gentle reminder – please be mindful and mute yourself when you are not sharing. Who would like be our first share of the day?

(Start shares, pausing for seventh tradition at around 12:30pm)

7th TRADITION BREAK

It is now time for our 7th tradition, which states that “Every SAA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.” In this meeting all of our expenses are covered. That said, we do encourage you to donate to your local SAA groups.

Do we have any SAA or related announcements?

This is a virtual chip meeting. Is there anyone on the call celebrating a sobriety anniversary today? 30, 60, 90 days, 6 months, a year, or multiple years? How about a virtual fist bump for everyone in the room? As always, we celebrate the most important day of all, today.

The floor is now open for sharing again.

(Try to close sharing by 12:50pm)

CLOSING

That’s all the time we have for sharing. If you didn’t get a chance to share, please stick around for fellowship afterwards.

In closing, anything you have heard at this meeting is strictly the opinion of the individual participant; the principles of SAA are found in our 12 Steps and 12 Traditions. This is an anonymous program. Please keep the name, address, phone number, and email of anyone you meet or learn about in SAA to yourself. And what we say here, let it stay here. Remember, we never identify ourselves publicly in the press, radio, TV, films, or internet. Neither does anyone speak for SAA.

Would someone like to read either a Vision for You, The Promises, or Acceptance?

(Share screen and scroll to the desired reading)

A Vision for You

We realize we know only a little. God will constantly disclose more to you and to us. Ask Him in your morning meditation what you can do each day for the man who is still sick. The answers will come, if your own house is in order. But obviously you cannot transmit something you haven’t got. See to it that your relationship with Him is right, and great events will come to pass for you and countless others. This is the Great Fact for us.

Abandon yourself to God as you understand God. Admit your faults to Him and to your fellows. Clear away the wreckage of your past. Give freely of what you find and join us. We shall be with you in the Fellowship of the Spirit, and you will surely meet some of us as you trudge the Road of Happy Destiny.

May God bless you and keep you – until then.

The Promises

1. If we are painstaking about this phase of our development, we will be amazed before we are half-way through.
2. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
3. We will not regret the past, nor wish to shut the door on it.
4. We will comprehend the word serenity, and we will know peace.
5. No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we will see how our experience can benefit others.
6. That feeling of uselessness and self-pity will disappear.
7. We will lose interest in selfish things and gain interest in our fellows.
8. Self-seeking will slip away.
9. Our whole attitude and outlook upon life will change.
10. Fear of people and economic insecurity will leave us.
11. We will intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
12. We will suddenly realize that God is doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

Are these extravagant promises? (PAUSE for group: We think not!) They are being fulfilled among us. Sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly. They will always materialize if we work for them.

Acceptance

Acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, thing or situation—some fact of my life— unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing, happens in God’s world by mistake. Until I could accept my sex addiction, I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life’s terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes.

(Stop sharing screen)

Thanks everyone for sharing, and for the opportunity to be of service. And thanks again to our timekeeper _______. After a moment of silence, I’d like to ask _______ to lead us out with the US AND WE version of the serenity prayer.

Who Lifts us from shame to Grace?
“God, grant us the serenity
to accept the things we cannot change,
courage to change the things we can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.”

(Chanted)
Keep coming back. It works if you work it, so work it ’cause you’re worth it, and it sucks if you don’t! (Really suuuucks)