THE EA CONNECTION: MAY 2019
PLEASE CONSIDER A CONTRIBUTION TO EAI TO SUPPORT THIS PUBLICATION.

EA TOOLS FOR RECOVERY
Step 5: Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Tradition 5: Each group has but one primary purpose, to carry its message to the person who still suffers fromemotional problems.
Slogan 5: First things first.
Promise 5: The feelings of uselessness and self-pity lessen.
Just for Today 5: I will do somebody a good turn and not get found out. If anyone knows of it, it will notcount. I will do at least one thing I don’t want to do, and I will perform some small act of love for myneighbor.
Helpful Concept 5: EA is not a sounding board for continually reviewing our miseries, but a way to learn todetach ourselves from them. Part of our serenity comes from being able to live at peace with unsolved
problems.

FROM EA’S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
The EA Board is made up of dedicated individuals interested in doing important service work for this organization. We
have been fortunate to have an active, thoughtful, and dedicated Board and I greatly appreciate their hard work tomove the organization forward. As you may know, we lost our Board President recently. Gus S. was a kind, generous
man and I’m sure many people will miss him dearly. I know I will.
We have operated with a smaller board during the past few years than when I came to EA (four years ago!). However,they have made up for their numbers by their willingness to work hard. Two years ago we made the decision to hold bimonthly board meetings (6 per year), instead of bi-annual meetings (2 per year). This made an enormous difference in
our ability to make things happen at EA and it kept the Board much more on board with the day-to-day operations. We
also recently changed the Board terms to begin at the start of our fiscal year, July 1.
Each year we seek new Board members. I encourage you to think about the possibility of Board service this year. Terms
are for three years, with the opportunity to renew for one additional three-year term. Board meetings are held every
other month in the evenings by phone or skype. Board members are asked to serve on one committee, choosing fromBook & Literature, Finance, Nominating, Personnel, or Outreach. The requirements to serve on the Board are to havecompleted Steps 4 and 5 and be an active member of an EA group. There is an application form available on the website to complete and return by June 1. All applications will be reviewed, all candidates will be reached by phone for adiscussion of their interests and the needs of the Board at this time, and then those appointed will be notified in order
to begin their terms July 1.
Board service is vital to the wellbeing of all nonprofit organizations. EA needs thoughtful individuals who have time toattend meetings and work in between the meetings for the good of the organization. I am personally extremely grateful
to be able to work with our current Board members. They are engaged, make time for EA in their very busy schedules,
and are interested in making the best decisions possible in order to reach as many people with the EA program as possible and make sure this organization exists for all who need it well into the future. Please consider joining us!
Elaine Weber Nelson, Executive Director

www.EmotionsAnonymous.org
Box 4245 St Paul, MN 55104
Phone 651-647-9712
Hours Mon—Thurs: 10 to 3:30 CST

director@emotionsanonymous.org
editor@emotionsanonymous.org
groupdata@emotionsanonymous.org
orders@emotionsanonymous.org
shipping@emotionsanonymous.org

SPECIALS GIFTS AND MEMORIALSIn memory of Micah - Elizabeth M Columbia, Mo

RECOVERY USING THE TOOLS OF EAStep 5: Admitted to God, toourselves and to anotherhuman being the exact
nature of our wrongs
It's good to have my sanity today.
I'll be sharing the fifth step frommy perspective.
Example
It was so difficult for me to face
another human being, in fullhonesty, admitting my wrong
doings. I thought it would kill me
to do so. What I didn't know wasfor the first time I would admit mypowerlessness. I didn't know it
would take me many years before
I would understand reality andmaturity by doing the fifth step.
I carefully choose a person I knew
would honor my anonymity. It
wasn't as hard as I thought itwould be trusting someone. Enso,my sponsor and spiritual adviser
both would hear my fifths. I hadtrusted my therapist with one
deep dark secret that opened-up
my tear gates. Since I cracked
open a door I might as well go for
the full experience the fifth stepoffered.
Strength
As I held onto my written fourth
step...I began to feel as though I
wanted to die. I held on to it for
too long. I found out later. It's best
to get the fifth done before any
regrets or procrastination holds
me back from the telling the truth.
I didn't reread it because I knew
better not to. For if I did...myperfectionism would kick in.
I knew I would go through any
lengthens for sanity. Doing thefifth would bring me someserenity. Or, perhaps, guilt andremorse to the particulars would
be known and I wouldn't relive thesame things over and over again. I
was so sick and tired of being
emotionally sick.
I was ready to be rid of the heavy
load I'd carried around for years. I
didn't want to suffer anymore,either. I wanted to face reality andto become mature. I had toconfess the people, places andthings I didn't understand. Also, I
didn't want to keep company withthe people, places and things I
chose by mistake.
Hope
Admitting my character defects
didn't kill me! I thought the world
would come to an end. I thought
so many things would go wrong
but I kept plowing through. I
wanted to have the freedom tomake better choices. To be happy
without feeling guilty. I wanted tolearn how to live with myself. And,for this I needed to learn how torely on my HP, myself and anotherhuman being.
What I found out throughout theyears is the 5th Step was an egobuster. I had so much false prideand no humility. I couldn't laugh at
my mistakes nor did I realize mymembership to EA was a lifetime
membership.
I continue to make mistakes. Imake wrong choices. I haveadversities. I am no different fromthe rest of the EA members. I am
certainty not alone by choice. TheTwelve Promises had been provenin my life-time…Pat M
Having an emotional illness is abummer! Doing a Step Five helped
me a lot. I did it with my sponsorPamela. She wasn't horrified at all.

Amazing! I learned in EA f2f
meetings that we were as sick as
our secrets. I have shared all ofmy secrets. No one abandonedme.
I don't believe that the EA programis easy. I have never foundanything worthwhile that cameeasily. My strongest advice foranyone is KIND to yourself! DoNOT beat yourself up!
That
activity helps no one!...CarolSlogan 5: First things first"First Thing First" in my life ishaving the desire to be wellemotionally. So, I ask myself if
something that I am going to do isgoing to help me with myemotional life or not. If it is not
something that will help me withmy responsibilities or is not
something good for me to be
doing, then I just don't do it. I
make sure I pay my bills and rent
on time, I buy healthy foods, makesure I budget my money since I am
on a fixed monthly income and I
ask my Higher Power daily toplease direct my thoughts, myfeelings, my actions and my words.
I am not perfect on all this, but thisis what I strive for when living firstthings first in my life…ConnieThis helps me to not to be in thefuture but to stay in the present.
So I've taken it to mean "take careof the things that are right in frontof you before you start thinking
about things further down theroad". So in otherwords do firstthings first. Let therest come later...Sophie

DISCOVERING THE TOOLS OF EA
Feelings Powerless of Everything!
Feeling powerless over everything, but especially over myself , that I had tried to change myself and couldn't - feelinglike God had abandoned me - feeling alone - being powerless to do anything about what was happening in other's lives
around me and around the world. After learning more about myself from working Step 4, perfectionism was and is a
big character defect of mine, hence, when I perceived my world (including myself) and the world around me to not be
perfect enough, depression set in and that feeling of being powerless would swallow me up. Anger was also tied up
with my depression, I'd get angry with myself about not being able to change certain things about myself. I would stuff
my anger and as we all know anger turned inward becomes depression. The weather affected my depression at times
too. I hated cloudy, rainy, dreary days or really, really cold days in the winter, but later in all honesty there were manytimes I suffered from depression during beautiful summer days too. Feeling overwhelmed could send me in a tailspin
also, but this also is tied to perfectionism with me.
As I've grown in the program I see how depression is related to not turning my will and my life over to a Higher Power,
because when I do turn my life and will over I feel free—free of the burdens of self, of expectations, of perfectionism,etc. All I have to do today is what God has planned for me, not what I have planned for me. How many times I've setout with my agenda for the day to only be interrupted by my Higher Power's plans for me, for example: my agenda isto clean my house or get some project done, but someone calls on the phone who needs to talk or a friend stops by inneed or just to talk. This is just one simple example of God’s plan for me.
Part of God's will for me today is to spread the message of recovery of EA and to help the new person who walks in thedoor of the meeting. In doing 12th step or service work of sharing what this program has given me and my experience,strength, and hope, I get to keep what I've been given. In doing this action, I get out of myself and my problems insharing with another how I work the 12 steps. And in practicing Step 12, with time, my depression or tendency to dwellin the negative and fall back into a depression is removed on a daily basis...Renee

I Do Remember
I do remember very much when I was extremely depressed, it lasted so many months. I did not function—and I wanted
to die all the time. I now have the steps in my life and they have helped me have a program, no matter what. The steps
have helped me not get to "that place" anymore. For this, I am always appreciative and really quite overwhelmed. I still
have downward trends in my thinking and strength at these times to turn my thoughts to the positive.
I am grateful to my HP and EA for reminding me of this strength and being here to remind me that there is always
something to be positive about. I have learned, thanks to EA, to put little joys in my life and to seek them, no matter
what—like my morning coffee, my plants, my animals, the birds, weather, and other people's joys. Even when I feelnone in my own life—theirs can be contagious...Kelly

A Bad Place
I haven't been in a good place. I missed taking my medicine for 3 days. I'm sure that had an effect on how i was handling life. I haven't felt this depressed in a couple of years. I’ve been doing a lot of taking things one hour at a time. Iknow my thoughts are unhealthy right now so thinking about things is the worst thing i can do.. I'm trying to stay busy,
hanging things on my walls, watching a movie, cleaning my fridge... stay moving, stay on task and not indulging in mythoughts. Of course when a task ends, my feelings take over and I cry. I feel like nothing matters—and what is thepoint of doing anything, I cry, but I have a tiny bit of faith that something will matter again.
I've been isolating from friends. People want to know what's wrong—they want to help and fix and offer ideas for how i
can make myself well again. But I know that I’m powerless over my emotions, and I just have to let them run theircourse. It's easy to cause drama from this mental state. It's easy to blame others for not loving me enough, I want tocall everyone out in my life who has let me down in some way and show them this is what's become of me! I know I
need to wait out the feelings and they will pass. I will be okay again!
The crazy thing is that this is so familiar and weirdly comfortable. As much as I reject it, I welcome it.
Depression is like an old friend who sleeps on your couch and won't leave and makes you crazy but you
know you always have someone there...Sarah2018 - 2019 EA Board of Trustees
Please feel free to contact members of the Board with questions or concerns
Scott J, MN 507-276-0323 sdjakel@gmail.com Vice President/Treasurer
John W, MN 612-760-0313 johnwerner52@gmail.com Secretary
Colleen C, MN 651-245-5461 coyne2003@hotmail.com
Derita P, OH 216-624-3559 deritapippen@gmail.com
The minutes from your Board of Trustee meetings are available at www.emotionsanonymous.org/who-we-are

Fostering Healthy Groups
The EAI strategic plan includes elements of fostering healthy groups. In keeping with that objective, two pieces of literature that are key to keeping a group healthy will be available for free with any orders during the month of May. These
are: #6 - Group Inventory and #7 - Suggested Meeting format. Both will be available as paper copies and are still subject to copyright protection; groups or individuals should not copy these materials themselves. To receive either ofthese pieces, simply place your order and include these with your request at our EA Store.

The Twelve Traditions
The 12 Traditions are the guidelines by which our group and our fellowship function, they proven over the years to
be an effective way of holding the fellowship and individual groups together.
Tradition 5: Each group has but one primary purpose, to carry its messages to the person
who still suffers from emotional problems.
A group health has been an important part of my recovery over the 35 years I've been in the program. To me, sustaining the health and integrity of an EA group allows that group to achieve its primary purpose and carry the EA message
effectively to others. It is part of regular maintenance, like changing the oil on a vehicle. I was grateful that members
were there to support me when I walked through the door at my first group meeting and reassured that the group,
which took regular inventories, could help me and others on our path toward recovery….Colleen C, EA Board of Trustees

Thoughts on Tradition 5 from Our Literature
The mission of every EA group is the same: To reach out to others who are suffering. This tradition is important because it’s also a key to every EA member’s recovery. If we want to stay well, we must give away to newcomers whatwe.ve been given so generously through the program. Our egos may try to make us believe that our own EA group isdifferent or unique, or has a higher purpose in the community. However, the highest purpose we can achieve is to be
there when that newcomer walks through the door...It Works if You Work It p 54
Tradition Five clearly states the one fundamental reason for an EA group to exist. This purpose is to bring to those whostill suffer from emotional problems a message of hope for recovery by way of the Twelve Steps of Emotions Anonymous. We, as EA members, have an obligation to share this message with those who do not yet know there is a way ofrecovery. Newcomers will listen to those who have had similar problems because they want to know our solutions. By
sharing, through our group meetings, our experiences, strengths, and hopes, we are uniquely able to help others.
We do not share other philosophies, therapies, religions, etc. in meetings. To do so would distract us from the messageof Emotions Anonymous. Of course, there are other routes one can take to emotional health. Members of EA are freeto utilize professional therapy, pastoral counseling, or other sources of help, if they wish, but discussion or debate
about other resources is not appropriate during an EA meeting. Outside of meetings, members are free to share information about other subjects as they wish.
Members attend EA meetings to share their understanding of and experiences with the twelvestep program as applied to their own lives. Newcomers to an EA meeting are there to learn if ourtwelve-step program might help them.
...EA’s 12 By 12