Spotlight On Sobriety 12/14/2025
- GaL-AA Newsletter Committee
- 7 days ago
- 8 min read
In this week's publication:
Click the link below to jump to that section:
Principles Behind The Steps #6
AA Transgender Pamphlet
Grapevine - Best Holiday Ever
Spotlight On Sobriety 12/14/2025
PDF Version:
Please let us know if this PDF version is helpful or not. Click Here
Principles Behind The Steps - Step 6
“Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.” — Step Six, Alcoholics Anonymous
Step Six invites us into a profound moment of willingness. After facing the wreckage of our past in Steps Four and Five, we arrive at a turning point where our spiritual growth truly begins. Step Six isn’t about perfection—it’s about readiness. The Big Book (pages 75–76) tells us we have now “emphasized willingness as being indispensable.” Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions ( 65–71) goes further, describing Step Six as “the step that separates the men from the boys,” emphasizing that genuine humility and readiness mark maturity in recovery.
Understanding the Step
At first glance, Step Six seems simple—“entirely ready” sounds like a single decision. But readiness in this context means spiritual preparation. It’s not about removing defects ourselves—that’s God’s work. Our task is to develop the willingness to let go of what no longer serves us.
A defect of character is any behavior, attitude, or thought pattern that blocks us from being useful and at peace. Pride, fear, resentment, envy, self-pity, judgment, and control can all qualify. The Twelve & Twelve teaches that we cling to defects because they bring us temporary comfort or familiarity. Step Six asks us to examine: What do I still get out of holding onto this? Only by identifying that hidden payoff can we become “entirely ready” to let it go.
Practical Ways to Work Step Six
Reflect Daily on Willingness
Begin each morning asking, “What am I still holding onto today that stands between me and spiritual freedom?” Use meditation, journaling, or quiet reflection. The goal isn’t to remove defects instantly, but to open the door wider for grace to work.
Connect With Step Seven Early
Step Six and Seven are often worked together. While Step Six focuses on readiness, Step Seven turns that readiness into prayer. A sponsor might suggest reading both steps together, underlining where the literature describes willingness and humility. The Big Book’s Step Seven prayer (p. 76) beautifully captures the surrender that follows Step Six.
Step Seven Prayer (Big Book, p. 76): “My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen.” |
Create a Defect–Asset Chart
Many find it helpful to list their most common defects beside their spiritual opposites—fear/courage, resentment/forgiveness, dishonesty/integrity. This practice reveals what virtues can grow in the soil left behind when a defect is removed. Review this chart regularly with a sponsor or in meditation. Suggested chart at the bottom of this article. To download an editable MS Word document, click here. If you need a different file format, please send us an email.
Spot-Check Defects in Real Time
In moments of anger or fear, pause and silently ask, “Am I willing to let this go right now?” The pause itself is a spiritual practice. It keeps us connected to humility and reminds us that willingness can exist even before the feeling does.
Invite Outside Feedback
Sometimes we are blind to the depth of our own defects. Sponsors, trusted friends, or spiritual advisors can lovingly mirror what we can’t see. Step Six is about openness to growth, and honest feedback is one of the most direct paths toward readiness.
Guidance for Sponsors
Sponsors often find Step Six a powerful point of connection with a sponsee. It can be tempting to rush through it—but it deserves time and dialogue. Here are some effective ways to guide someone through this step:
Encourage reflection, not perfection. Remind them that being “entirely ready” doesn’t mean being defect-free, but simply being willing to let God do the work.
Use shared reading. Study the Twelve & Twelve together, pausing to discuss each paragraph on pp. 65–71. Ask, “Where do you see yourself in this description?”
Model vulnerability. Sponsors who share their own ongoing struggles with defects demonstrate that humility is a lifelong process, not a one-time event.
Celebrate willingness. Even small steps—admitting a need for patience, honesty, or forgiveness—are victories worth acknowledging.
Embracing Humility
Step Six teaches that humility is not humiliation—it’s truth. The truth that we are human, that our best efforts alone are not enough, and that divine help is available when we invite it. This humility creates emotional balance and the foundation for lasting sobriety.
The Twelve & Twelve (p.76) says, “The key to freedom from fear is faith; that to fear God is to fear nothing else.” When we stop fearing who we are without our defects, we find we’ve been carried by a power greater than ourselves all along. Readiness becomes a doorway to transformation.
Multiple Viewpoints
Different members experience Step Six in unique ways:
Some approach it as a daily practice. Each morning, they renew their willingness, knowing that some defects return in new disguises.
Others view it as a milestone. A spiritual awakening of sorts, where self-will is surrendered for the first time in a deep way.
Still others treat it as a continuous loop. Each new challenge reveals another layer of self-centeredness, bringing another chance to become “entirely ready.”
There is no single “right” way—only the honesty to keep showing up willing.
Finding It in the Literature
Big Book: Step Six material appears near the end of Chapter 6, “Into Action,” especially pages 75–76.
Twelve & Twelve: Step Six is fully explored on pages 65–71.
Daily Reflections: June 6 and other early-June entries often expand on willingness, humility, and readiness.
Grapevine articles: Search for “Step Six” stories for member experiences that bring the principle to life.
In Closing
Step Six is a quiet but mighty step. It’s where self-centered fear begins to yield to spiritual willingness. When we become entirely ready, even imperfectly, we begin to live differently—less reactive, more peaceful, more useful to others. Our defects no longer define us; our willingness does.
As one old-timer once said, “God can’t remove what we won’t let go of.” Step Six is where we open our hands—and our hearts—wide enough to let go.
Steve N. Las Vegas, NV
AA Transgender Pamphlet
Call for Stories: AA to Publish New Pamphlet for the Transgender Alcoholic
The General Service Office (GSO) of Alcoholics Anonymous, as recommended by an Advisory Action of the 2024 General Service Conference, has announced an important new literature project: the creation of a pamphlet titled “A.A. for the Transgender Alcoholic.”
To ensure this piece truly reflects the voices, experiences, and diversity of our Fellowship, GSO is inviting transgender, non-binary, genderqueer, Two-Spirit, and gender-nonconforming members to share their personal recovery stories.
This is an extraordinary opportunity for our community to help shape AA literature that will support countless newcomers for years to come. Stories may touch on any aspect of recovery—experience, strength, hope, meeting experiences, sponsorship, service, the Steps and Traditions, mental health, transitioning in sobriety, or what safety and belonging in AA have meant to you.
The deadline to submit is March 31, 2026. Submissions can be made online, by email, or by postal mail. All authors’ anonymity will be protected whether or not a story is selected.
🔗 Read the full letter and submission guidelines here: https://www.aa.org/submit-story-aa-for-the-transgender-alcoholic-pamphlet
If you’re part of the transgender community and have a story to share, your voice matters — and it may be exactly what the next alcoholic needs to hear.
Grapevine - Best Holiday Ever
Best Holiday Ever
Magazine Issue: December 2024
Author Name: Gary D.
Author City: Edgewater
Author State: Florida
Things are a little quieter and tough this year, but his mission is clear. Show love the best he can
I used to despise the holidays. Look how everyone acts on Black Friday. Pushing, sleeping overnight and fighting in parking lots … no problem with self-righteousness here!
I was a meat cutter. Everyone wanted the perfect turkey, perfect roast, perfect chateaubriand. I was one of the people feeding all these damn customers! Poor me, pour me a drink. Ahh! Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on my perception, I poured too many drinks and couldn’t stop no matter what I tried.
My sobriety date is November 22, four days before Thanksgiving 2009. I had stopped fighting. After four days dry I went to AA. I didn’t want to drink anymore. I said, “I need help, what do I have to do?”
My first sober holiday season was anxious yet hopeful. I said no to holiday parties with drinking. I did attend a Christmas party at the sober clubhouse though. I even brought a ham. Gratitude was starting to touch my soul. Something was changing inside of me. I was going to one to two AA meetings every day. I didn’t feel alone any longer. I was now surrounded by a Fellowship that understood.
A few years ago I was asked to share about what my first sober holiday season was like. I had to go to the source who remembers all (me, not so much)—my wife. Yes, she and I are still communicating. One day that December when I had the day off and she was at work, I decided to go get some colorful lights and holiday figures and decorate our front yard. Boy, was my wife pleasantly surprised. We had lived in that house for 15 years with no outdoor decorations until then. But that wasn’t enough. I even filled the backyard with flashing blue lights. Even I was overwhelmed. It was so crazy I had to do away with the flasher!
One Big Book line always stays with me, “Our very lives as ex-problem drinkers depend on our constant thought of others and how we may help meet their needs.” Thinking of others and being of service to people at my job, especially customers, has changed a lot. I went from being a mercenary to being a humble servant, especially during the busy holiday season. Wow! how does this change happen to an egotistical, self-centered alcoholic like me? Simple. I work the Steps and apply them in my life today. It also doesn’t hurt when I apply our Traditions too.
I’m now retired, but I love to participate in our district AA alkathons. I also get to help out at our district gratitude dinner, which serves about 300 of our Fellowship. On Thanksgiving I spend the holiday season with my wife, sons, grandchildren and great grandchildren. But this past holiday season was quite different.
My wife, who has stood by me since 1978, got cancer, and was going through chemo treatments. She always loved to cook our big holiday meals, veggie plates, dips and so forth, but she wasn’t able to do it this Thanksgiving. So a dear family friend who lives an hour away took it upon herself to cook a Thanksgiving dinner and send it to us. What a wonderful surprise that was.
When Christmas Eve came, my wife was able to put a small dinner together just for the two of us. But Christmas day, which is one of her favorite days, was quiet. She just didn’t have the energy. This year she just wasn’t able to enjoy herself. She got concerned about the future. I never pushed program at her. Fellow members told me, “There’s a God in her life and it’s not you.” All I said to her was, “Baby, let’s just deal with this for today.” And that’s what we started doing together. This past holiday season was our 44th together. Though it was different, we were grateful. All those years she took care of our family and me when I was sick. Now I have the privilege to take care of her.
My sponsor says every morning is Christmas and every night is Thanksgiving. If I had settled for just not drinking I would have definitely shortchanged myself.
Copyright © The AA Grapevine, Inc. (December 2024) Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved. To subscribe to AA Grapevine, please visit https://www.aagrapevine.org
Spotlight On Sobriety 12/14/2025
The Spotlight On Sobriety 12/14/2025 features personal stories, articles and reflections submitted by members and friends of the fellowship. The views expressed are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent those of Alcoholics Anonymous or GaL-AA.
Statement of Inclusion
GaL-AA exists to serve lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender people, queers and others in Alcoholics Anonymous regardless of how they self-identify. GaL-AA embraces all members of the AA Fellowship.
Your GaL-AA Newsletter Team
