Stay ConnectedSober Sunrise brings you AA Speaker Tapes from around the world. Rather than an AA discussion podcast, Sober Sunrise brings you speakers who share step-work, workshops, and general fellowship discussion points.
We are not affiliated with AA in anyway.
Pat says his wife went back to work and told him they were going to build their lives stick by stick. In sobriety, that is exactly what happened.
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Pat shares an honest AA talk about losing jobs, family, housing, self-respect, and freedom to alcoholism before finding a sponsor who came to the county jail to “see a drunk” and took him into Alcoholics Anonymous one meeting at a time. He talks about workhouses, homelessness, failed attempts at responsibility, a marriage damaged by drinking, the fear and anxiety that followed him into early sobriety, and the old-timers who put a finger in his chest while also showing him how to change. Pat also shares how the steps, sponsorship, meetings, prayer, and the example of other sober men helped him become present for his wife, children, work, union responsibilities, service, and eventually a daughter who found her own way into AA. It is a grounded, grateful story about rebuilding a life slowly, staying close to the people who tell the truth, and protecting the self-respect that sobriety gave back.
Pat P. from Cleveland, OH speaking at the C.A.H. group in Euclid, OH - December 21st 2008
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Ed learned from Chuck C. that what we came to AA looking for, we were already looking with.
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Ed M., sober since January 5, 1971, leads a funny, blunt, and deeply spiritual Mother’s Day retreat on alcoholism, emotional maturity, spiritual sobriety, and living the Twelve Steps in every area of life. He shares his own story of early drinking, violence, resentment, faith, amends, forgiveness, ministry, family pain, and the surprising life AA opened up for him, then moves into a practical look at powerlessness, surrender, inventory, anger, defects of character, and the need to keep applying the program beyond alcohol alone. With stories about Big John, Clancy, Chuck C., treatment-center confusion, carrying the message through tapes, forgiving the men involved in his father’s murder, and learning to stop living from old “ones,” Ed keeps returning to the same simple point: the answer was never missing, but the application has to become real.
Parts 1-3 of Ed M. from Davenport, IA speaking at a Mothers Day Retreat - 2006
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Father Vaughn says the dirt is beautiful, because out of the pain, wreckage, and defeat of alcoholism, something living can finally grow.
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Father Vaughn shares a funny, forceful, and deeply spiritual AA talk about alcoholism, recovery, freedom, grace, and the lived experience of the Twelve Steps. With stories from his life as a priest, hockey player, drinker, and longtime worker with alcoholics, he talks about the conflict between behavior and values, the danger of cheap grace, the importance of laughter, the need to stop being spectators in recovery, and why the steps have to be internalized rather than merely observed. He digs into surrender, self-acceptance, the Fourth and Fifth Steps, forgiveness, sexuality, shame, love, service, and the sacred responsibility of carrying a message that may be the only “big book” another suffering person ever reads. It is a lively, old-school AA talk about becoming fully alive, letting grace work through the wreckage, and learning that out of the dirt can come flowers.
Father Vaughn Q. speaking at Comox AA Rally in British Columbia, Canada - 1999
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
After years of running, surviving, and trying to escape herself, Carla found something in AA she never expected: the ability to be awake in this moment.
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Carla, sober since September 25, 1987, shares a powerful and deeply human AA talk about growing up in instability, discovering early that alcohol could do something for her she could not do for herself, and trading away pieces of her life for the effect it produced. She talks about running away, juvenile halls, psychiatric hospitals, damaged relationships, motherhood, sponsorship, inventories, amends, trauma, forgiveness, and the slow rebuilding of a life inside Alcoholics Anonymous. Carla also shares how AA helped her become present for her daughter, her mother, her family, her sponsors, and the people who now need what she was freely given. With humor, honesty, and a lot of grace, she points toward the simple miracle at the center of her recovery: waking up, staying close, and learning to live fully in the moment she used to spend her life trying to escape.
Carla R. from Tujunga, CA speaking at the 60th Gopher State Roundup in Bloomington, MN - May 26th 2013
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Tom had years in AA, thousands of meetings, and still drank again. Then one Big Book talk in treatment finally explained what he had missed.
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Tom shares a direct and hard-hitting AA talk about starting to drink at a young age, living restless, irritable, and discontent without alcohol, spending years around Alcoholics Anonymous, and still missing the core of the program. He talks about treatment centers, discussion meetings, slogans, “thinking through the drink,” long stretches of meeting attendance, and the frightening moment when all of that still failed to keep him sober. In treatment after his relapse, Tom finally heard the Big Book explained in a way he says he had never heard in thousands of meetings: the physical allergy, the mental obsession, the spiritual malady, and the need for a spiritual solution followed by carrying the message to others. He gets into why meetings are not the solution by themselves, why working with other alcoholics matters, why delaying the steps can be dangerous, and how taking the steps quickly changed his life into one built around service, sponsorship, and watching other alcoholics recover.
Tom P. from Dallas, TX speaking at the Casa Group of AA in Dallas, TX - November 27th 2006
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Grant hit the end of half-measures with one desperate thought: he didn’t want to meet God with alcohol on his breath.
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Grant shares a funny, painful, and deeply honest AA talk about growing up alone in a rigid military home, losing his athletic future to a brain tumor, taking his first drink at 17, and slowly crossing the line from controlled drinking into hiding beer in spare tires, wrecking cars, damaging his family, and trying to manage alcoholism his own way. He talks about white-knuckling, coming to AA, continuing to drink between meetings, and finally reaching the kind of pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization that made him willing to do whatever it took. Grant also shares powerful moments from recovery: hearing that God would not bring him into a room with the answer just to deny it to him, finding a sponsor, taking the steps, making peace with his father, discovering the truth about his childhood, and becoming a man who could love, forgive, and be useful.
Grant P. from St. Paul, MN sharing his story at the St. Paul open speakers meeting in St. Paul, MN - January 2007
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Paul says he was not there at the birth of Alcoholics Anonymous, but he was there at the christening.
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Paul K. shares an old-school AA talk with 46 years of sobriety, reflecting on early Alcoholics Anonymous, Dr. Bob, the Oxford Group influence, the Four Absolutes, sponsorship, surrender, inventory, amends, traditions, and the spiritual simplicity he saw in the fellowship’s early days. He talks about coming into AA when it was already “in place and working,” being sponsored through direct action, taking the Third Step on his knees in front of the group, using honesty, unselfishness, purity, and love as guides for inventory, and learning through painful amends that restitution could become an act of love. Paul also speaks tenderly about his wife, their shared sobriety, and Dr. Bob’s final message to keep the program simple: love and service.
Paul K. from Akron, OH speaking at the Deep South AA Convention in New Orleans, LA - April 8th-10th 1988
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
Arnor says AA can feel like an invisible rowboat: it may not make sense at first, but you still have to get in and row.
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Arnor K. shares a sharp, funny, and unconventional AA workshop talk on carrying the message, working with newcomers, and why intensive work with other alcoholics became the missing piece of his own sobriety. He talks about coming into AA angry, defensive, and unimpressed, reading the Big Book to find loopholes, learning from people who did not want to do the work but did it anyway, and discovering that sobriety was not just about fixing himself. Arnor digs into Chapter 7, the practical meaning of “intensive work with other alcoholics,” the difference between sounding like an expert and gaining a drunk’s trust, why perfection is not required to help someone, and how the recipe of AA only comes alive when it is actually baked into action. It is a restless, funny, thought-provoking talk about getting off the receiving end of AA and becoming part of the work.
Arnor K. from Oslo, Norway speaking about carrying the message at the June NOLA workshop in New Orleans, LA - June 28th 2015
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
DeAndre thought he already knew enough about the first three steps. His sponsor heard two sentences and saw the dry drunk coming.
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DeAndre, sober since May 29, 1991, shares a funny and direct AA talk about sponsorship, connection, accountability, and the danger of trying to run the show alone. He talks about leaving psych rehab, meeting his first sponsor Dennis, thinking he had already handled the first three steps, and slowly learning that real sponsorship meant letting another alcoholic see through his fear, resentment, secrets, and self-deception. DeAndre gets into the “stomach steps” of four through nine, looking for cosigners instead of direction, drifting from a sponsor, coming back, sponsoring others, staying available without playing God, and why helping another alcoholic keeps his sobriety from feeling shallow.
Deandre M. from Lancaster, CA speaking at the 12 suggestions meeting in Hermosa Beach, CA - June 21st 2006
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
In the finale of the Joe & Charlie Founders' Day series, the written inventory becomes admission, willingness, amends, daily practice, and a message carried to someone else.
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In this final combined session, Joe and Charlie take the Fourth Step inventory into Steps Five through Twelve. They explain why self-appraisal alone is not enough, how admitting the exact nature of our wrongs begins clearing away what has blocked us, and how willingness in Step Six leads to the humility of Step Seven. From there, they move into the amends process, including becoming willing, making direct amends carefully, and allowing changed conduct to repair the past. Joe and Charlie then show how Steps Ten and Eleven keep inventory, prayer, and meditation active in daily life before bringing the workshop home with Step Twelve. The result of the first eleven Steps is a spiritual awakening, but the responsibility that follows is just as important: practicing these principles and carrying the message to the next alcoholic.
Joe & Charlie speaking in Laughlin, Nevada, circa 1998 - "The Big Book Comes Alive" workshop tapes - Parts 9 & 10: "Steps 5, 6, 7, & 8" and "Steps 9, 10, 11, & 12"
Music: Deep by KaizanBlu
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