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| Welcome Newcomers to Recoveries Anonymous! |
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We have some important information that will help you, as a newcomer to our fellowship, take full advantage of all our Twelve Step Program of Recovery has to offer.
Insanity has been described as doing the same thing, in exactly the same way, over and over again, and expecting a different result. The good news is that R.A. does things in a different way, so you can get a different result. This result is being restored to sanity in all areas of your life.
The Goal of Our Program
The goal of our program is to help you become restored to sanity in every area of your life. This goal comes from the first hundred members who recovered. They are the pioneers of the program. They wrote the Big Book. It contains their "clear-cut directions" for working our program. They also wrote the Twelve Steps where they say that they "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."
In R.A. we will help you to follow the pioneers' original "clear-cut directions" to work all Twelve Steps. Our experience is that working the Twelve Steps in this way will help you come to believe that God can restore YOU to sanity. You will be able to find the full recovery you have been seeking.
The First Things for You to Read
To find out more about our program we suggest that you download a free copy of R.A.'s Newcomer Guide from our web site. We suggest that you read it after you finish reading this page. We also have other guides and books that will help you find the recovery you are seeking. For example, you can download a free copy of R.A.'s A Change In Perception Guide. It contains R.A.'s Highlighting Introduction. We suggest that you follow the suggestions in it to get started with our program of recovery. We suggest that you also do this after you finish reading this page.
At this time R.A.'s guides and books are only available in PDF versions. You can download them from our web site. You can then print them out on your own printer. You can also take our books and guides into a print center to be printed and bound. We hope to have printed versions of our literature available in the near future.
Your Course of Action
The original Twelfth Step says that you will have "a spiritual experience as the result of this course of action." This means going through all Twelve Steps using the pioneers' original “clear-cut directions.” We believe that these directions are easier to see in the Multilith Big Book. It is the pioneers' group conscience approved original manuscript for the Big Book.
You can download a copy of "The Original Way Out Revealed: R.A.’s Annotated Multilith Big Book" from our web site. We give the password needed to open this book to thank those who make a small contribution in support of our effort to help others. You can do this on our web site at www.R-A.org
While they are not required, you may also enjoy having a number of the other books we use in R.A. available. This includes a copy of A.A.'s Big Book. However, the changes made to its text make it harder to see the original “clear-cut directions.” So you will still need to get a copy of R.A.'s Multilith Big Book. In it the pioneers write that “To show other[s] PRECISELY HOW THEY CAN RECOVER is the main purpose of this book.”
We also have a members only web site that you will use with your R.A. sponsor to work the Twelve Steps. You can get an R.A. sponsor by clicking on the "Contact Us" tab on our web site or writing to RA@r-a.org
Attend R.A. Meetings
R.A. meetings are probably different than other meetings you may have attended. This is intended to produce a different result. At R.A. meetings we suggest that you not go into detail about your problems, your behaviors, or your life. Most of us already know how to hurt ourselves, and others. We are in this program to learn how to become, and stay, sane.
Therefore, at R.A. meetings we suggest that you try to focus on, and share about, the solution that is in our literature, instead of your problems or behaviors. You will be able to talk about your problems and behaviors one-on-one with your sponsor and other R.A. members.
R.A.'s focus on the solution at our meetings allows us to welcome everyone, including family and friends. While many of our members are no longer in other programs, others are. In either case, at our meetings we suggest that you do not mention the name of any other organizations in your sharing.
You can get more information about R.A.'s meetings by downloading a free copy of R.A.'s Meetings Guide. You can find the locations of R.A.'s face-to-face meetings, and the times of R.A.'s phone meetings, by clicking on the "Meetings" tab on our web site.
 Listen to a full length R.A. Solution Discussion meeting.
More About Our Program
R.A. is a Solution Focused Twelve Step program. There are no dues or fees for membership in R.A. We are self-supporting through contributions.
Recoveries Anonymous is a spiritual program, not a religious one. This is true even though our literature talks about God. It is also true even though some of the books that we read from an historical perspective, because the pioneers used to read them, mention Christ.
We look forward to you joining us "on the Broad Highway, walking hand in hand with the Spirit of the Universe" toward your recovery.
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