This motion has been adopted. There were 46 votes, 42 yes and 4 no. The motion received 91% in favor.
This motion is being recommended by Elly
Issue: I move that we change the Saturday Self-Care reading to the following adapted passage from the ACA Big Red Book, as written in the following background.
VOTE: (until July 24th)
Background: The new reading would be as follows:
As I make my journey through the ACA Steps:
- I listen to my Inner Child – not with fear but with openness.
- I love this child for all they have had to defend against.
- I know that feelings are to be listened to; they are cues and signals that indicate where I am and what I need.
- Mistakes are a sign of growing; I remember to be gentle with myself.
- Success is not relative to others. It is a feeling of love and accomplishment for myself.
- Recovery is accepting myself for who I am, no longer waiting for others to define me or approve of me.
- It is safe to take time to play today. Play fuels my creativity, tickles my Inner Child, and nurtures my soul.
- May I respond with the vulnerability of my Inner Child, but with the strength of my Loving Parent.
- I surround myself with people who respect and treat me well.
- In faith I find the strength to survive times of great fear and sadness.
Adapted from Claudia B., BRB pp xxiv – xxv
The current reading on Saturdays is the ACA Promises. These are a repeat of Monday’s reading, the only repeat during the week.
The writings of Claudia B. have been foundational to my personal recovery, keeping me grounded when I lose perspective or become overwhelmed. I believe other members of our group would find benefit in these passages as well.
They’ve been a source of inspiration for me, providing essential markers and mileposts on my ACA journey.
Referencing the Big Red Book may also promote the reading of ACA literature and the exploration of our program’s history.
The adaptation simply moves the writing from a perspective of description with ‘you’ and ‘they’ into a form of affirmation with the use of ‘I’ statements.
Thank you for your consideration of this suggestion. ~Elly
Yes please this is a beautiful change in my opinion
Can you please register my vote for regular inclusion of Claudia B’s reading into the Saturday Self Care reading. Thank you 🙂
Thank you for participating. Our Proposal Process is outlined here: https://www.acamorning.org/proposals-smr-business-meeting-practices/
This is the beginning of a 3 week comment period. We will then have voting.
Is this simply a comment time or is there a vote button that I am overlooking?
This list is beautiful! I am glad it will be the focus of the self care portion of the Saturday meetings.
Hi Elly, I really like your idea. Thank you. I wondered if you have ever seen “Turning Points in Recovery” by Claudia B.? Its equally awesome & is a big longer and might provided more self-care conversations. Here is the link: https://aca-arizona.org/wp-content/uploads/Turning-Points-of-Recovery.pdf – I think it is a wonderful idea to change up the Saturday Self-care reading. Thank you for bringing your proposal, it shows courage.
I love Claudia B’s Turning Points! I’d vote for this one for sure.
I like the suggestion to change the Saturday self-care reading to Claudia B’s reading. I would definitely vote ”yes”. Thanks for the idea, Elly!❤️
Great idea! I didn’t now this passage from Big Red Book has been adapted as Claudia B did. I think it’s really accurate and reflects the essence of our recovery. It would be very nice to include it as the self care reading for Saturdays instead of The Promises.
I love the new proposed reading and as a relative newcomer it would help me to become more comfortable and familiar with the Big (VERY Big) Red Book.
Prefer not, like Promises 2X/week
This reading is nice but for me it doesn’t have the punch and universality of our other readings. I’d prefer the promises.
Yes, let’s change
I would prefer a straight-forward reading of the ACA steps along with the intro of permission granted. Similar to the reading of the Tony A steps. I think it would give balance to read the ACA steps once a week. In the interest of keeping it simple, thank you.
I am 100% for this. I am ready to vote yes. I hope a poll will go out to do so. Thank you for initiating this motion.
yes! I LOVE this reading and agree it should replace the current Saturday reading
I would be interested in knowing why the group founders decided to have The ACA Promises read twice during the week in the first place. Surely, there was a reason. Knowing that reason would help me choose.
I would also be interested in the original reason for reading the promises twice a week.
I think this is a good idea! No reason to repeat Mondays reading when there are others like this that can be another helpful thing to hear. I say yes.
I like change and exposure to new readings. I appreciate the motion to bring a new reading into our repertoire.
Love this reading . Yes! Thank you to those who have worked on this motion.
I find this to be a powerful reading, and think it would be more helpful to my recovery than reading the promises a 2nd time each week. Thank you for proposing this, Elly.
A bit of history…
When the SMR meeting began we generally had the 5 self-care options: the Promises, the ACA Bill of Rights, the Affirmations, the Solution, and a Feelings Checkin.
For the first few months, with 20 or so members, we would vote each day for the self-care we wanted to read/experience. Pretty quickly that practice had to end, as we had a larger and larger meeting group. So, we had 7 days and 5 readings. The group decided to double the reading of the Promises and the Bill of Rights. The was nothing more than a choice.
A couple of years later, a member suggested that Tony A’s Steps be substituted for the Wednesday Bill of Rights reading. The idea was discussed and adopted.
A review from time to time could be a good thing. For instance, the World Service Organization has a revised Bill of Rights in fellowship review. Perhaps we would prefer to offer the updated version.
Yes! This is beautiful and would be an awesome addition!
Beautiful reading. I vote, yes, to this new reading on Saturdays.
I suggest this doesn’t need to be an “either-or” situation where it replaces the Promises.
However please note I would be very reluctant to hear it in a meeting if it does not originate from ACA conference-approved literature.
Ways to include both:
• keep using the Promises in the Chat-Room Meeting, supplanting them with the new reading either once a month or for a trial period, all in the chat-rooms and without needing to otherwise change the structure.
•Alternatively have each chat-room host ask the room for a vote to add the new reading for that day only to the Promises.
•Alternate the Promises weekly or monthly with the Traditions and the Concepts, and include the new reading as one of the extra texts.
If used, I feel it should be preceded with a disclaimer stating it is not replacing the Promises.
Thank you
It is a great idea and I will vote yes when it is time to do so. Thank you.