Recovery Step 7

We humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings

For anyone seeking recovery from addiction, this seventh step on your way to twelve requires honesty with yourself, willingness to change, and action. An additional key to working this step is to remain in the spiritual realm, specifically remembering to use your developing relationship with God. Sadly, many never get this far and have long since stopped doing the work. Some relapse to alcohol and drug use. The saying, “one, two, three, drink!” refers to the high percentage of alcoholics who drink after doing only steps one, two, and three, balking at the process of looking at themselves in step four and beyond. Individual alcoholics and addicts find that to stay clean and sober they must also do the action steps of four through nine, then maintain their recovery and spiritual fitness by adopting as a way of life all of the steps, including ten, eleven and twelve. Continue reading

Recovery Step 6

Ready for Change?

This is the step that separates the men from the boys, or, more accurately, the real adults from the emotionally immature. For those working and living by a twelve step program, you may remember that this step, quoted here from the Narcotics Anonymous literature, actually says, “We were entirely ready to have God remove these defects of character.” For anyone not in a twelve step program, personal growth may still be of interest and step six is a terrific “step” on the way to having a better self. Continue reading

Recovery Step 5

Tell Someone

I recently watched that great old classic movie, Crocodile Dundee, and was struck by the following conversation taking place at a cocktail party in NYC:

Sue to Croc: “A shrink, that’s a Psychiatrist.”
Crocodile Dundee: “Oh, I didn’t know she was nuts.”
Sue: “She’s not nuts. She goes there to talk about her problems, to bring them out in the open.”
C.D.: “Doesn’t she have any mates?”
Sue: “I guess there aren’t any shrinks in Walkabout.”
C.D.: “If you have a problem in Walkabout, you tell Wally, he tells everyone in town, brings it out in the open and there’s no more problem.”
Sue: “We could all use more mates.” Continue reading

Recovery Step 4

This is a terrific time to get to work on ourselves! For anyone working a 12 step program, or anyone who wants to use this method for emotional and spiritual growth, the hard work continues with step four. Some say that this is the step that separates those who really want to recover and change from those who just say they do. A saying that goes around recovery groups is, “One, two, three, drink,” a commentary on what often happens to people who are beginning recovery from addiction but are not willing to do the difficult work of step four. Experience shows that if he just does steps one, two, and three, without continuing through the rest of the steps, the alcoholic usually drinks again. Continue reading

Why? or Why Not?

The illusion is that if we just know why, we can effect change. Not so. “Why” is the refrain of the two year old and of the teenager. Never ending and always prompting another question, not a solution, “why” becomes a mental gyration. “Why” is the booby prize! We can speculate, understand the psychodynamics, believe we know the pathway we have followed to our present state of being, perhaps our present state of self destruction, and still continue down said pathway! Continue reading