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Step 2 Complete

Like last time, steps 1 through 3 are kinda easy.  This time around, I'm putting much more thought and prayer into what each step means, so I'm getting more out of it.  Step 3 is more of an ongoing effort.  I can feel when I'm living it and when I'm not.  This is part of my morning prayers, and something I have to stop and ask myself throughout the day.   Am I living God's will or my own will?

For reference, the twelve steps are:
  1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
  2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
  3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
  4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
  5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
  6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
  7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
  8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
  9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
  10. Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.
  11. 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.
  12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

As soon as I get through step 4, I'll have gotten further than I did two years ago. The thing I'm embracing is that drinking has never been the root problem.  Its the emotional baggage, the fears, and quite honestly my thinking that are the real problems.  I can see when my thinking causes anxiety. More importantly, I can see that the triggers for my anxiety aren't REAL.  When I just stay here today, free of expectations, I can respond to the moment with ease, joy, and acceptance.

Comments

  1. BKJuly 13, 2016 at 7:18 AM

    Congratulations! Taking the steps slowly and making sure you understand them all the way through is a big part of the process, one that I'm just beginning to understand. I was at a meeting Sunday morning and realized that all of my prior abortive steps were at least partly because I'd never stopped to really examine what "powerless" truly meant in the context of alcohol-- I accepted Step 1 because "sure, I'm an alcoholic", but coming to grips with the meaning and consequences of each step requires a lot more thought than I'd put into them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJuly 17, 2016 at 11:40 AM

    Step 2 was extremely important to me because prior to coming into the rooms I was freaking nuts and I knew it. Anxiety had crippled me and I was trapped with no way out. I quickly realized that if I did not surrender and seek help soon I would succumb to the tragic despairs active alcoholics are destined to experience: jails, institutions, or death.

    Although at the time I did not know HOW my Higher Power would restore me to sanity, I did trust that He could and would restore me to sanity. I realized that it was not for me to comprehend the how, but rather simple to trust in my Higher Power. This trust that I acquired in Step 2 was the building block for surrendering my will and my life to the care of God as I understand Him. I needed to build this trusting relationship in step 2 to completely give myself to Him in step 3.

    I look forward to hearing how your life is changed once you complete step 3.

    ReplyDelete

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