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The purpose of the list is to offer support within the raw food eating community
and all others working the 12 steps
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@A is the 12-step followship is cyberspace

• Rawtimes Steps is an open email list for recoverying death eaters

1. Subscribe and top of page
2. Introduction what is @A
3. 12 traditions of @A -- for group unity
4. 12 steps of @A -- for individual recovery
5. 12 promises of @A
6. 12 rewards of @A
7. the serenity prayer
8. tools for working the steps
9. 12 signs that you are an internet junkie
10. an old story about a new meeting.
11. Anonymity -- if you want it: Read This
12. 12 rules of Etiquette and class -- very important

(2) Introduction:

@A is just one more group
no more no less
it was started by people who realize that eating cooked food
may be yet: just another symptom of addiction
not all, but many were vegans

@A is not restricted to raw fooders or vegans
it is just friendly to them
all people working the 12 steps are welcome

(3) The Twelve Traditions of @A

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon @A unity.
2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority-- a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
3. The only requirement of @A membership is a desire to stop.
4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or @A as a whole.
5. Each group has but one primary purpose-- to carry its message to the addict who still suffers.
6. An @A group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the @A name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
7. Every @A group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
8. @A should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
9. @A, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
10. @A has no opinion on outside issues; hence the @A name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.
12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

(4) The 12 Steps of @A

1. We admitted we were powerless, 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 and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

(5) The Twelve Promises

1. We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness.
2. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it.
3. We will comprehend the word serenity.
4. 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. The feelings 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 on 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.

(6) The Twelve Rewards

1. Hope instead of desperation.
2. Faith instead of despair.
3. Courage instead of fear.
4. Peace of mind instead of confusion.
5. Self-respect instead of self-contempt.
6. Self-confidence instead of helplessness.
7. The respect of others instead of their pity and contempt.
8. A clean conscience instead of a sense of guilt.
9. Real friendships instead of loneliness.
10. A clean pattern of life instead of a purposeless existence.
11. The love and understanding of our families instead of their doubts and fears.
12. The freedom of a happy life instead of the bondage of an obsession.

(7) 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.

(8) Tools for Recovery and help in Working the Steps:

1. CYBERSPACE: email lists, web pages, chat rooms
2. PLAN OF ABSTINENCE: @A does not endorse any specific plan. Some members refrain from certain foods, actions, relationships, etc. Only you, with proper guidance, can honestly appraise your own habits.
3. SPONSORSHIP: Sponsors are @A members who are practicing the twelve steps and twelve traditions to the best of their ability. They are willing to share their recovery with other fellowship members. It is to your advantage to find someone you want to help you, and say "Would you be my sponsor?" The sooner you start working with someone, the better you will work the program.
4. MEETINGS: Meetings are gatherings of two or more addicts who come together to share their personal experience, strength and hope. At meetings you will find the love and acceptance that is the core of the @A program. Try to attend as many meetings as possible to soak up the myriad of stories dealing with recovery.
5. PHONE CALLS: The telephone enables us to share on a one-to-one basis; it alleviates the isolation so common among us. Many members call fellow addicts and their sponsors daily. Take numbers from the sign-in sheet passed around at the meetings.
6. WRITING: In addition to making an inventory and listing the people we have harmed, most of us have found writing an indispensable tool for working the steps. Putting our thoughts and feelings down on paper helps us to better understand our actions and reactions to life.
7. LITERATURE: We study and read literature including: The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of AA, OA, etc.
8. ANONYMITY: Anonymity, referred to in Traditions Eleven and Twelve, is a tool that guarantees that we place principles before personalities. We are equal in the fellowship, whether newcomer or seasoned old-timer, our outside status makes no difference in @A.
9. SERVICE: Carrying the message to the addict who still suffers is the basic purpose of our fellowship and therefore the most fundamental form of service. Any service, no matter how small, that helps to reach out to a fellow sufferer adds to the quality of our own program. Find something you can do for the group, such as setting up or putting away chairs, or cleaning up the trash after the meeting. It will help you and it will help us. Service is its own reward!

(9) Are you an Internet Junkie??????

1. You wake up at 3 am to go to the bathroom and stop to check your email on the way back to bed.
2. You name your children Eudora, Aol and Dotcom.
3. You turn off your modem and get this awful empty feeling, like you just pulled the plug on a loved one.
4. You spend half of the plane trip with your laptop on your lap...and your child in the overhead compartment.
5. You decide to stay in college for an additional year or two, just for the free Internet access.
6. You start using smileys in your snail mail.
7. You refer to going to the bathroom as downloading.
8. You can't call your mother...she doesn't have a modem.
9. You dream of winning the lottery so you can pay for a T1.
10. You check your mail. It says "no new messages." So you check it again.
11. Your business card doesn't even have your address or phone number, just your email and web page url
12. You don't know what gender three of your closest friends are, because they have neutral screennames and you never bothered to ask.

(10) old story about a new meeting

once upon a time
i knew a man who wanted to start a new meeting
don't really remember the reason
all it takes is two addicts and a resentment
so he went out to find a meeting space
and spoke with the management
and arranged for a weekly meeting
he spoke to many people
so that the first meeting was crowded
they discussed plans for the group
and took a vote
they voted to make the meeting for women only
and they proceeded to immediately kick him out

(11) Anonymity -- if you want it

in the first line of your post
insert the following line

Approve Nick

where you substitute your nickname for the work Nick
when the post makes it to the list
your nick will replace your name and email address

some of us want to be honest
we just don't want to be arrested

(12) Etiquette

1. do not give advice, unless asked for - instead give your personal experience.
2. do not vocalize your judgement of others - Share your truths as they relate to the issue
3. do not quote whole previous posts -keep duplication to the minimum neccesary to enable others to understand your reply
4. do not post more than once or twice a day. - Occassionally it is fine, however, try to put session posts together into one post. Sharing with others is sharing time and resources as much as anything
5. newcomers are required to introduce themselves. Its only etiquette, not a rule
6. do not repost anything from the list, or tell anyone else anything about us. - This applies to posts of a personal nature
7. do not post announcements - send them to the leader for posting. This mostly applies to forwarded and redirected posts
8. do not cc anything to the list - this applies to cross posting and large recipient lists, not sending a copy to a friend
9. do not ask for help for someone else - it is ok to ask any question, but try to keep the focus on yourself
10. do not post your daily diet - some people have been know to do that every day, remember the important issues are not usually food
11. listen to the leader - obviously this is a joke
12. everything subject to change and group conscience - don't give up, speak your mind and say what you want.

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