Clancy's Seven Questions

Do these questions seem self defeating? Does the wording and the whole process seem self defeating?

Guilt, Resentment, Fear, Inadequacy, Loneliness: The five areas that seem to cause the most serious problems for people in recovery.

Several years ago, Clancy I., was explaining to me that guilt, resentment, fear, feelings of personal inadequacy and loneliness were the five areas that seem to cause the most serious problems for people in recovery.

He shared with me seven questions that he uses to help a person start writing and he emphasised that the questions and the writing are not intended to replace A.A.’s Step 4, they just help the person get started.

Most of the people who approach Clancy or are referred to him, are very hardcore cases who have tried numerous times and approaches to solve their problems.

I have been using these “Seven Questions” with the people that I sponsor ever since Clancy shared them with me.

I’ve discovered that they are very effective when dealing with rock-bottom newcomers and with the high-bottom intellectual types. I have also used them numerous times in helping oldtimers who were struggling through a difficult period.

Here are the Seven Questions:

1. In looking back over your life – what memories are still painful, guilty, dirty?

2. In what ways do you consider yourself an inadequate person?

3. Who do you resent – and why? Be specific.

4. What do you conceive to be your defects of character – as you see them today?

5. What is the nature of the ongoing problems you have with people close to you – in human relations – what seems to always happen when you have these things that blow up?

6. In what way do you believe that A.A. can help you with any of these problems?

7. In what way do you believe that A.A. can begin to change things?

I never give the newcomer the questions without also setting a time for them to complete their writing. Normally, I’ll give them the questions and expect them to be finished with their writing by the next day, and I’ll have them call me so that we can get together and discuss their answers and apply the solution to their problems.

If the newcomer procrastinates and doesn’t meet the deadline for the questions I usually consider that they are not yet serious enough to approach their problem and I move on to help someone else.

I pass them on to you with the hope that they will help you in helping others as much as they have helped me.

Source: http://www.step12.com/clancy.html

P.S. So much for Clara's "inventory" not being done by the Sponsor but by a professional....... at least if you follow the instructions of Clancy I....

Comments

JR Harris's picture

Who cares who you really are? You tell wild stories that can't possibly be true. You spread the Midtown doctrine of opposite sex sponsorship and the tactics of the cult manipulation that Clancy is famous worldwide for.

"Tradition 10 - Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the AA name ought never be drawn into public controversy." Please follow orders from the Interchurch Center if you are an AA member and don't comment.

Clara's picture

Nothing wild about anything I say. Just becuase you choose not to believe doesn't change my reality, JR. I don't believe much of what you say, either, so I guess we are even, huh?

Remember Christopher Stevens when you vote.

becket's picture

Well, she's not becket, I can tell you that.

You contend no one cares who Clara really is? Does this mean YOU don't care? Then why even bother to respond to her posts?

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

Ironic's picture

Thanks Steve. Great post!

JR Harris's picture

Clancy's 7 Prospect Interrogation Questions don't give the option to "do" it with a professional. The sicko Clancy also teaches prospect hunters to only allow prospects for AA 24 hours to respond and then pounce on them.

When you talk to Clancy groupie, don't forget to mention this to him.

"Tradition 10 - Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the AA name ought never be drawn into public controversy." Please follow orders from the Interchurch Center if you are an AA member and don't comment.

dolson's picture

I did do mine with a professional,

You did what exactly? With what professional?
You have done nothing of the kind. You simply lurk here and troll threads, injecting your usual rhetoric and fallacies. You offer nothing substantive. You are a character, created to troll and derail at every opportunity.

You are a nothing more than a sock puppet. Has marietta becket written your phony thesis for your make believe master's degree in justice?

How about that research paper?
Transferring your academic works from floppy disc is both simple and economical.
But you can't do that, can you?
That's because you are not a real person.
You are nothing more than a Robo Troll.

Run along marietta becket.

This is the grown up's table.

Go ahead, enjoy yourselves - it's getting late, much later than you think.

I'm leery to mention this due to its implication, but the obvious sometimes needs stating. If Clara lurks and trolls then you, dear dolson, are the lamprey that clings to the lurking troll offering no more than a ripple in its wake and trailing excrement. I guess that now makes me the tick latched to the clinging lamprey riding the lurking troll. Oh well, ticks are people too!

The fare at this "grown up's table" lacks sustenance, son.

This is your cue to say a bit about "death cult worship". Can't wait.

dolson's picture

If Clara lurks and trolls then you, dear dolson, are the lamprey that clings to the lurking troll offering no more than a ripple in its wake and trailing excrement.

Nice try young lady.
Jeezus you're such an idiot.

Go ahead, enjoy yourselves - it's getting late, much later than you think.

"Nice[,] try young lady."

I would, but the youthful females, pulchritudinous or no, of my acquaintance resist my beguiling wiles.

"Nice try[,] young lady."

Please know I'm a middle-aged lady of the masculine gender.

How do you deem this "Jeezus" person an idiot. Are you projecting again? Oh, the missing comma; "Jeezus[,]" is exclamatory, and the idiot tosses idiocy at me. You keep it - you wear the dunce cap so well.

How's the fear of inadequacy and the resentment at guilt working for you? Maybe break those down to their constituent parts thereby diluting the terrified rage you feel. Loneliness is all by itself though.

becket's picture

I love it when dullson loses its cool.

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

dolson's picture

Please know I'm a middle-aged lady of the masculine gender.

You are truly a distasteful shit sandwich.
Get back into the basement you loon.

Go ahead, enjoy yourselves - it's getting late, much later than you think.

becket's picture

Out. Of. Control. !!

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

causeandeffect's picture

He sounds cool as a cucumber to me. You on the other hand have some pretty splendid serenity meltdowns...

Troll free AA critical forum
http://www.expaa.org/

"The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it." ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

becket's picture

I can see how it might be so tantalizingly tempting to categorize persistence and truth-seeking as a "serenity meltdown". That way you can cultivate the artifice of superiority and wisdom.

Give it some time. You will come to see what a gasbag you really are.

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

dolson's picture

I can see how it might be so tantalizingly tempting to categorize persistence and truth-seeking as a "serenity meltdown".

Nothing could be father from the truth. Your use of loaded language in attempt to discredit an accurate statement is transparent. Your assertion of the Nazi death worship cult's rhetoric is tedious. You have never spoken any truth marietta.

That way you can cultivate the artifice of superiority and wisdom.

Having your own tactics used against you, really pisses you off to no end. Karma is a bitch, isn't it old man?

Give it some time. You will come to see what a gasbag you really are.

You are, and we do.

Aesthetics.

You are nothing of the sort old Scrotch.

Go ahead, enjoy yourselves - it's getting late, much later than you think.

dolson's picture

Out. Of. Control. !!

Not likely old man. You seem excitable tonight. Did billy dud let you touch his playdough?

Go ahead, enjoy yourselves - it's getting late, much later than you think.

causeandeffect's picture

LOL!!!

Troll free AA critical forum
http://www.expaa.org/

"The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it." ~ Neil deGrasse Tyson

becket's picture

See, there's the difference between you and billybudd, dullson. He has playdough. You have a vestigial structure. So sorry for your loss . . .

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

The shit sandwiches you usually eat are palatable? How can the execrable flavor in your mouth result from my posts? I wouldn't know how to go about looning a basement, (<- crucial comma) odd person.

dolson's picture

The shit sandwiches you usually eat are palatable?

I see you struggle with concepts.

It is apparent you and marietta becket are high on each other tonight.

Be aware that the old man can be demanding.
Ask him to remove his teeth first.

Go ahead, enjoy yourselves - it's getting late, much later than you think.

Yours need polishing - figuratively, fool. You can't buff a turd.

However, the vapid content of puerile concerns shoddily presented leave me disinterested, dullard. I ought not expect better from a connoisseur of shit. Do you hang out with c&e at her pad, sharing shit on toast, boasting about the dead people in your lives, with a corpse or two ripening in the foyer, fulminating about the creepiness of others behind shit-eating grimaces? Wipe you chin; you got a brown dribble.

dolson's picture

Yours need polishing - figuratively, fool. You can't buff a turd.

I say nay to you my young tussle. Polish has brought to you the finest glow.

However, the vapid content of puerile concerns shoddily presented leave me disinterested, dullard.

You hath become disenchanted with this gilded soliloquy? I cannot, nay, I will not believe such tripe. You grace me with your sterling charm upon each post of which I labor. Does your silken breath know no boundary? Such lies, such deceit.

I ought not expect better from a connoisseur of shit.

Thou proclamations of bitter judgement furrow my brow.

Do you hang out with c&e at her pad, sharing shit on toast, boasting about the dead people in your lives, with a corpse or two ripening in the foyer, fulminating about the creepiness of others behind shit-eating grimaces?

Most assuredly, as thou kneels before marietta becket with his cruel noodle ensconced deep in your mouth.

Wipe you chin; you got a brown dribble.

Perhaps thou shalt heed his own words.
You have marietta stains upon your blouse.

Go ahead, enjoy yourselves - it's getting late, much later than you think.

becket's picture

You win the award for the most offensive vulgarity on the board. Champeen! Number One, the Supreme King of Ill Breeding! Congratulations, dullson! The above post is far and away the most tasteless, boorish and crude posting to have appeared here in some time. I do hope Orange takes a look at what he has allowed to proliferate on the Forum. If he allows this kind of ugliness to continue then it speaks to the man himself and how little he actually cares about form and function here.

Oh, my, what next?

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

Working the Faux-Shakespeare, toning down the sound and fury, but still - signifying [ ]. Problem is that now, since dullson has over-exerted putting a dunnish sheen on his rhetoric, he's thoroughly smeared with sticky brown. He has wasted his nourishment. I fear he'll emptily fume and impotently castigate like a shattered and dispersed record, not merely broken; he'll lack the panache to which we've come to expect.

Poor guy. Won't one kind soul offer dullson a butt to suck?

dolson's picture

Poor guy. Won't one kind soul offer dullson a butt to suck?

Seriously? Is this the best retort you have troll? You are nothing more than a mindless drone sitting beneath the bridge, spinning incoherent insults while smirking at its own perceived superiority.

Your insults lack panache. How dull.

I believe in keeping it real. You are a douche bag billydud.

Go ahead, enjoy yourselves - it's getting late, much later than you think.

becket's picture

Ah, you must have discovered the thesaurus - good work, dullson! Let's next hear about your unending ennui in shouldering the intolerable task of responding to everything billybudd says, or clara, or me for that matter.

"How dull", indeed.

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

... dullson was vapid and repetitive when peaked. Now I think his deficient diet has led to a chronic and irreversible condition. Have you tried picking out morsels of corn, nuts, and mushrooms for their vigor inducing nourishment; have you tried eschewing the slimy brown goop? I've heard it said that it's not what goes in a person's mouth that defiles him, but what comes out. You, -son, got it coming and going.

dolson's picture

dullson was vapid and repetitive when peaked.

Get used to it douche barrel.

Go ahead, enjoy yourselves - it's getting late, much later than you think.

Actually haven't even warmed up, so don't be dolen out awards yet.

Brett

becket's picture

Do you want the bowling trophy or the girls' soccer trophy?

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

JR Harris's picture

What is Clancy's sobriety date? How many white chips does Clancy have in his personal "Shrine to AA" at the house that is paid for by the alcoholics he "helps" in the gutter? How does the midnight mission have 48 million in assets?

"Tradition 10 - Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the AA name ought never be drawn into public controversy." Please follow orders from the Interchurch Center if you are an AA member and don't comment.

Clara's picture

Why shouldn't it have assets? I couldn't begin to wonder what the building itself is worth.

Remember Christopher Stevens when you vote.

JR Harris's picture

The Midnight Mission is using an unemployable Clancy as a figurehead who does nothing but drain money from the fellowship so that he can fly all over the world spreading his very dangerous life threatening BS. He's killing alcoholics while pretending to "help" them and he has all of these female groupies like yourself. He's following in the footsteps of the adulterous, occultist called Bill Wilson.

"Tradition 10 - Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the AA name ought never be drawn into public controversy." Please follow orders from the Interchurch Center if you are an AA member and don't comment.

becket's picture

If he's "killing alcoholics", why hasn't he been arrested? Could they not find the murder weapon? Did budget cuts decimate the police force and they simply aren't interested in arresting, trying and convicting multiple murderers anymore? (Are you envious of the groupie thing, JR Harris?)

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

Clara's picture

He retired. He took on his role at the mission in a volunteer role. He is not unemployable. If someone wants to fly him out to speak, I would imagine that is their business.

Remember Christopher Stevens when you vote.

Pennywise's picture

Clancy has been at the mission for some time. He was paid. I'm not sure if he still gets paid. I agree Clancy is not unemployable. He's extremely intelligent.

"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."

Pennywise's picture

In 2002 and 2003, Clancy was paid $99,327 in yearly compensation and $12,327 (in 2002) and $10,291 (in 2003) in benefits. In 2004 he was paid $99,830 in compensation and $14,680 in benefits. In 2005 he was paid $100,000 in compensation and $16,994 in benefits. In 2006 he was paid $101,366 in compensation and $14,102 in benefits.

I believe Clara is right that he is now retired and no longer collecting a salary from the Mission.

Source: http://dynamodata.fdncenter.org/990s/990search/esearch.php

"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."

Clara's picture

Good for him. It is a big job. I am not sure if that is decent money for southern Cal, but I would take it.

Remember Christopher Stevens when you vote.

Pennywise's picture

It's only 40 hours a week, but I concede Clancy could have had a job paying much more than that.

"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."

Clara's picture

Plus the guy is in his 80's. He could also just retire.

Remember Christopher Stevens when you vote.

Pennywise's picture

I'm not sure of his exact date, but I think it is in 1958.

"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."

Clara's picture

That sounds about right. I think he said he has been sober for 53 years.

Remember Christopher Stevens when you vote.

dolson's picture

You win the award for the most offensive vulgarity on the board. Champeen! Number One, the Supreme King of Ill Breeding! Congratulations, dullson!

Not even close you poisonous toad. Reading any thread here illustrates your venomous intent old man becket. You are simply an old gasbag with too much time on his hands.

The above post is far and away the most tasteless, boorish and crude posting to have appeared here in some time.

Now you are simply having a break from reality old crow. I see you are a sensitive whiny bitch when I call you out at your own game old man marietta.

I do hope Orange takes a look at what he has allowed to proliferate on the Forum.

As do I you lunatic.

If he allows this kind of ugliness to continue then it speaks to the man himself and how little he actually cares about form and function here.

You simply can't control your compulsion to fling shit at every idea, or every poster here. I believe he reads the forum, and your caustic remarks flood every thread marietta, for all to see. You are nothing more than a blustering troll. You have no interest in actually allowing this forum to operate. Your only objective is to derail.

Tasteless is as tasteless does old man.

Go ahead, enjoy yourselves - it's getting late, much later than you think.

becket's picture

I'm not randomly flinging shit. I'm returning it to its rightful owners.

I love you, too, dullson.

“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
― Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian

dolson's picture

I'm not randomly flinging shit. I'm returning it to its rightful owners.

If this is the case, open wide old man.

Go ahead, enjoy yourselves - it's getting late, much later than you think.

dolson's picture

I personally believe that people would benefit from the reading today in Daily Reflections

Then go and read it dip-shit. We don't want to hear it becket.

Most self help books say similar things.

Who gives a fuck marietta.

If you can understand your behavior, you can modify it and change!

Spewed like a true Robo Troll clarietta.

Whatever "ickiness" I had in my life is no longer there because of a willingness to look my life in the eye and to make corrections.

Really? Then lying about having a Grammy or Master's Degree is simply par for the course old man?

There was no "repenting over and over." That you choose to misrepresent something doesn't make it real.

And that is your game clarietta.

clarietta=becket=marietta

Go ahead, enjoy yourselves - it's getting late, much later than you think.

In the 70's there was a commercial for pimple cream featureing clarrisa the clearasil girl, could this be one & the same person?
certainly a comparisson can be made between clara & a pimple, once ya squeeze their juices out they just fade away. We can but live in hope.

Brett

Pennywise's picture

Nice David Allen Coe reference!

"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."

Pages