THE RECOVERY GROUP
THE RECOVERY GROUP
Dear Recovery Friend,
Although the Recovery Abstinence and Emotions Anonymous loop is not affiliated with EA, Inc., many of our members are also members of that organization. The following in the Mission Statement of Emotions Anonymous, the 12 Steps of EA, the 12 Traditions of EA, The EA Concepts and The EA Promises.
EMOTIONS ANONYMOUS Emotions Anonymous is a twelve-step organization, similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. Our fellowship is composed of people who come together in weekly meetings for the purpose of working toward recovery from emotional difficulties. EA members are from many walks of life and are of diverse ages, economic status, social and educational backgrounds. The only requirement for membership is a desire to become well emotionally.
Our program has been known to work miracles in the lives of many who suffer from problems as diverse as depression, anger, broken or strained relationships, grief, anxiety, low self-esteem, panic, abnormal fears, resentment, jealousy, guilt, despair, fatigue, tension, boredom, loneliness, withdrawal, obsessive and negative thinking, worry, compulsive behavior and a variety of other emotional issues. As an anonymous program, EA respects the confidentiality of its members at all times. As a spiritual program, there is an emphasis on a higher power. Experience has shown the EA program works equally well for those with or without religious beliefs or affiliations.
EA provides a warm and accepting group setting in which to share experiences without fear of criticism. Through weekly support meetings, members discover they are not alone in their struggles. We may each have different symptoms, but the underlying emotions are the same or similar.
Our program was founded in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1971. As of 1996 there are over 1,200 EA chapters in 39 countries, including the United States. Emotions Anonymous is supported and maintained by member contributions and each member and group is encouraged to share in the financial support of Emotions Anonymous.
About Our Meetings: EA is not a medical or psychiatric service, nor does it provide personal or family counseling. Leadership of group meetings rotates and is non-professional. The leader's function is simply to conduct the meeting, not to serve as an authority. Our meetings are structured to assist individuals who want to achieve and maintain emotional health by understanding and utilizing the Twelve Steps of Emotions Anonymous in their daily lives.
THE TWELVE STEPS OF EMOTIONS ANONYMOUS We admitted we were powerless over our emotions — that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
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.
The Twelve Steps reprinted for adaptation with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc. ©1939, 1955, 1976.
THE TWELVE TRADITIONS OF EMOTIONS ANONYMOUS. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends on EA unity.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. .
The only requirement for EA membership is a desire to become well emotionally.
Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or EA as a whole.
Each group has but one primary purpose ‹ to carry its message to the person who still suffers from emotional problems.
An EA group ought never endorse, finance or lend the EA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
Every EA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
Emotions Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
EA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
Emotions Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence, the EA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
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.
Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
The Twelve Traditions reprinted for adaptation with permission of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc. ©1939, 1955, 1976.
We come to EA to learn how to live a new way of life through the twelve-step program of Emotions Anonymous which consists of Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, concepts, the Serenity Prayer, slogans, Just for Todays, EA literature, weekly meetings, telephone and personal contacts, and living the program one day at a time. We do not come for another person — we come to help ourselves and to share our experiences, strength, and hope with others. HELPFUL CONCEPTS OF THE EA PROGRAM.
We are experts only on our own stories, how we try to live the program, how the program works for us, and what EA has done for us. No one speaks for Emotions Anonymous as a whole.
We respect anonymity ‹ no questions are asked. We aim for an atmosphere of love and acceptance. We do not care who you are or what you have done. You are welcome.
We do not judge; we do not criticize; we do not argue. We do not give advice regarding personal or family affairs.
EA is not a sounding board for continually reviewing our miseries, but a way to learn to detach ourselves from them. Part of our serenity comes from being able to live at peace with unsolved problems.
We never discuss religion, politics, national or international issues, or other belief systems or policies. EA has no opinion on outside issues.
Emotions Anonymous is a spiritual program, not a religious program. We do not advocate any particular belief system.
The steps suggest a belief in a Power greater than ourselves. This can be human love, a force for good, the group, nature, the universe, God, or any entity a member chooses as a personal Higher Power.
We utilize the program ‹ we do not analyze it. Understanding comes with experience. Each day we apply some part of the program to our personal lives.
We have not found it helpful to place labels on any degree of illness or health. We may have different symptoms, but the underlying emotions are the same or similar. We discover we are not unique in our difficulties and illnesses.
Each person is entitled to his or her own opinions and may express them at a meeting within the guidelines of EA. We are all equal ... no one is more important than another.
Part of the beauty and wonder of the EA program is that at meetings we can say anything and know it stays there. Anything we hear at a meeting, on the telephone, or from another member is confidential and is not to be repeated to anyone {EA members, mates, families, relatives or friends.}
THE TWELVE PROMISES OF EMOTIONS ANONYMOUS. We realize a new freedom and happiness.We do not regret the past or wish to shut the door on it.
We comprehend the word serenity, and we know peace of mind.
No matter how far down the scale we have gone, we see how our experience can benefit others.
The feelings of uselessness and self-pity lessen.
We have less concern about self and gain interest in others.
Self-seeking slips away.
Our whole attitude and outlook upon life changes.
Our relationships with other people improve.
We intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle us.
We acquire a feeling of security within ourselves.
We realize that God is doing for us what we could not do ourselves.
These may seem like extravagant promises, but they are not. They are being fulfilled among us, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly.
Copyright © 2000 ~ The Recovery Group