Steps 1-2-3 in 30 seconds

AGO · MIP Old Timer

Steps 1-2-3 in 30 seconds

ljc · MIP Old Timer

Good post, thanks for sharing this.

I believe that steps 1 & 2 are merely a state of mind type of working. There is no writing needed, no long drawn out pages of this or that.

Step 3 far as Im concerned is the key to real , true, lasting sobriety. It is sorta like the secret to the program. If ya get it, you're good.

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

Yeah, it would seem if you really canj realize that your life is better when you are not frantically trying to control it...serenity can come in. Step 3 is a daily thing.

SUSIE · Senior Member

Wow AGO that was awesome. This is a simple program and you just proved it!!!! The best I have heard the program discribed!

Dave Harm · Senior Member

Wow... me personally... if I did the first three steps in 30 seconds... no doubt in my mind I would be drunk again.

When I first sobered up I spent nearly three months on step two and almost double that on step three... if I was going to turn over my will and life, I wanted a true understanding who (or what) I was turning it over too.

I thought I had it right the first time.... and had a slip after five and a half years... now with triple that time in sobriety... I still need a lot more then thirty seconds to do these first three steps...

They are my foundation and I certainly don't want any cracks in the mortar....

AGO · MIP Old Timer

ljc wrote:

Good post, thanks for sharing this.

I believe that steps 1 & 2 are merely a state of mind type of working. There is no writing needed, no long drawn out pages of this or that.

Step 3 far as Im concerned is the key to real , true, lasting sobriety. It is sorta like the secret to the program. If ya get it, you're good.

I agree, step 3 is the entire program, it's the Alpha and Omega and the foundation, and I love that it is broken down in such mastery in steps 4-12

It all comes back to who is running the show, a fundamental state of mind

Wow... me personally... if I did the first three steps in 30 seconds... no doubt in my mind I would be drunk again.

All three steps can take from 10 minutes to about 3-4 hours if we go over the book, read it, and take each step as we come to it, or in 3 weeks in 1-2 hour meetings each week

Heya Dave, The 30 seconds was how long it takes to read the post, not how long it takes to do the step

Personally, I have found the best way to work the steps is reading the book out loud with a sponsor sponsee, the sponsor asking questions, like asking if each sentence in Dr Opinion matches the sponsees experience and working each step as we get to it, step one on page 30, step 2 in We Agostics, step 3 on pp 60-63, step 4 starting at Next on 63 and so on

I liked having 1-2-3 hour sessions, read, digest, take a week, hit some meetings, and it seems as the answers unfold, it accompanies the process that is taking place

jj · MIP Old Timer

Thanks AGO,
got me thinking so i posted something that meant a lot to me.
thanks

bikerbill · MIP Old Timer

Such a timely post. One of my sponsees has just come off a 5 day bender. He texted me this morning to say that he'd been on the lash for 5 days but hadn't had a drink today - what shall I do? (I already knew this from other sources but wasn't going to rush round until he contacted me - my big white charger is retired!)

A hard one to answer but I said, put the drink down, go to a meeting, listen and share. I'll be ready when you're ready to stop drinking.

So now we met at the meeting, (he walked to it, about 5 miles or so, because he daren't drive.) he came back with me, shaking like a wet dog, we shared spaghetti bolognese and talked and talked. He explained step 1. I'll believe he understands it. He asked to stay over as he doesn't want to be alone, so he's in the spare bed and now I reckon with the aid of this post, we can crack 1, 2, 3 and get him started on 4 again by lunchtime tomorrow.

Ago, thanks so much for a very clear and simple explanation of 1, 2 and 3.

AGO · MIP Old Timer

It really is amazingly simple

Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventure before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:

(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.

(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.

(c) That God could and would if He were sought.

Being convinced, we were at Step Three, which is that we decided to turn our will and our life over to God as we understood Him. Just what do we mean by that, and just what do we do?

The next five paragraphs explain "just what do we mean by that"

The following paragraphs until the word "Next" (and after of course) cover "just what do we do" specifically

and then it says:

Next we launched out on a course of vigorous action, the first step of which is a personal housecleaning, which many of us had never attempted. Though our decision was vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face, and to be rid of, the things in ourselves which had been blocking us. Our liquor was but a symptom. So we had to get down to causes and conditions.

Blocking us from what? Isn't this about not drinking? Where is my relapse prevention? What do they mean liquor is but "a symptom"?

Blocking us from "God as we understand him"

Drinking aint our problem drinking is a symptom of an inability to fit in with life, we feel wrong unless we drink, we have something wrong with our spirit, we have a spiritual sickness, that is why any program solely based on protecting and shielding the alcoholic from temptation is doomed to failure

You can't protect an alcoholic from himself, and the alcoholic is fundamentally insane, so he can't protect himself, all the phone calls, tips and tricks, and slogans in the world won't get between this man and his first drink.

So what do we do?

Therefore, we started upon a personal inventory. This was Step Four.

So what the steps are there to do are unblock you from your higher power, which remember:

(c) That God could and would if He were sought.

and the key?

Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but He was there. He was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis, it is only there that He may be found. It was so with us.

OK, That bears repeating:

Sometimes we had to search fearlessly, but -it- was there. -it- was as much a fact as we were. We found the Great Reality deep down within us. In the last analysis, it is only there that -it- may be found. It was so with us.

The answers lie within, we just have to access it

So the steps 4-12 are there to remove what is blocking you from God, or in another words, as the Buddhists call it, your inner self, or true self, and it can only be found from within

That's it, that is the whole deal

remove the stuff that had been blocking you from God as you understand God or your Inner self

These are the "causes and conditions" we must get to the root of, we do that we don't need all that relapse prevention fear based tips and tricks and meetings every day stuff

This is why it says in step 10

We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us

For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we recoil from it as from a hot flame. We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality safe and protected.

It aint about relapse prevention, slogans and tips and tricks, or what kind of day you had or who you called, or didn't call that is all training wheels and bullshit and short term tools, it's the duct tape and bailing wire of the recovery world, some people can stay sober with duct tape and bailing wire, it don't snap, most don't, it's about uncovering our original operating system that is underlying all our bullshit and effectively remapping our brain, because when our minds open up their mouth to talk to us, it's lying, that little voice in our heads is our ego, and with alcoholics, our egos are hardwired into our illness, that's why every step is about ego deflation and smashing the ego, not smashing the beautiful person underneath, the child of God, but the ego, and when the ego is smashed the child of God can emerge, or the true self, or whatever, but it's the ego that has to go, it's trying, successfully in most our cases, to kill us.

This is why you hear people sharing about trying to get out of their own way, they know it's their own thinking is what is blocking them from God, their own thinking is what is trying to kill them and to keep them sick.

I have heard God is light, and resentments, fears, and all the day to day BS are windowshades that block the light, that learning how to "get out of our head" by clearing away our past and present wreckage lets that light through.

That is my experience, I am as atheist/agnostic as they come and after working the steps I have felt light pour through me in almost unbearable pleasure/pain and cried helplessly because I literally felt the hand of God....just cried, tears running down my face feeling indescrabable power flow through me, this was after hearing a sponsees fifth step and sharing my own with him.

I have only shared this experience with others who have had the same experience, by whom I mean people who have done the steps and taken sponsees through the steps, many of them have had similar experiences at different points during the steps.

It's called a spiritual awakening, and it's better then drinking, and drinking was VERY good to me, until it wasn't any more, that's why I drank, to have a spiritual experience

This is why the entire program can be summed up in

Trust God
Clean House
Help others

or

Love
and
Service

-- Edited by AGO on Saturday 22nd of May 2010 09:12:22 PM

turninggrey · MIP Old Timer

Brain.................exploding................at ..............sheer.............simplicity.............of ................this ................magnificant.............discussion. Well put Ago!
Tom

Aquaman · MIP Old Timer

Thanks AGO. I like your examples for "my life had become unmanageable".

My first meeting a guy said to me "The first three steps are where it starts. Just remember...
I can't
He can
I'll let Him."

Peace,
Rob

AGO · MIP Old Timer

Aquaman wrote:
I can't
He can
I'll let Him.

great stuff Rob, thanks

I'll let him = do the steps, and he'll keep me sober, it's not my job to manage my life, and it's not my job to keep me sober, I do my job and God does his, I have already proven I can't keep me sober or I wouldn't have ended up at those silly meetings

This is my experience and I don't believe in a diety, thing is Gonee does, and I could talk God with that man for hours and hours or even months and years and we'd be on the same page, we have a different concept of God but it/he accomplishes the same things, and we would say the same things if asked to describe our God

God is love
God is everything
I'd even be nodding and knowing what he is talking about and agree with him when he said God is our heavenly father

yet I am an atheist

this is a beautiful program

The bizarre thing is we take all sorts of actions that seemingly have nothing to do with drinking or not drinking, making lists, checking it twice like we are Santa Clause, telling our life story, crying and hugging other men, paying some money back and getting right in the world with those we harmed in the past and those we still harming and one day we noticed we don't want to drink any more, we don't even think about it any more, the thought of taking a drink never crosses our mind, as a matter of fact if tempted or offered we recoil like it's poison...which it is

We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us

That sound good to anyone?

Everyone I know that worked a searching and fearless program that worked the steps and reached step ten has this, as do I.

-- Edited by AGO on Sunday 23rd of May 2010 01:19:41 AM

jonijoni1 · MIP Old Timer

I like this thread and it is most helpful. I like how our dependence upon God is based upon us "suiting up and showing up", moreso than getting our latex gloves on and playing around with and forcing our will upon things until we make a mess of it.

Dependence on something else and letting go is really hard to practice in all things, not only for the human spirit itself, but especially for alcoholics who were trying TO CONTROL their own realities by drinking alcohol while losing control of it at the same time. Heavy stuff.

To Let Him is one thing, to Keep Letting Him is another, and I am a quick forgetter. I am so glad to have the rest of the Steps to at least stay headed in the right direction. It is hard once we start looking at our shortcomings, to NOT want to "give the reins" over to something greater than us, because we can clearly see what a damned mess we make of things when left to our own devices. But the ingrained habit of panicking and letting our instincts take over is a strong one.

Aquaman · MIP Old Timer

I'm with ya.
When I contemplate removing my will and making room for God's Will I think of these verses from the Tao Teh Ching...

9
Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
Chase after money and security
and your heart will never unclench.
Care about people's approval
and you will be their prisoner.

Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

10
Can you coax your mind from its wandering
and keep to the original oneness?
Can you let your body become
supple as a newborn child's?
Can you cleanse your inner vision
until you see nothing but the light?
Can you love people and lead them
without imposing your will?
Can you deal with the most vital matters
by letting events take their course?
Can you step back from you own mind
and thus understand all things?

Giving birth and nourishing,
having without possessing,
acting with no expectations,
leading and not trying to control:
this is the supreme virtue.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

11
We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.

We work with being,
but non-being is what we use.

____________________________________________________________

I especially like V.11

Peace,
Rob

AGO · MIP Old Timer

Aquaman wrote:
We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.
We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.

We work with being,
but non-being is what we use.

This is also one of my favorites, when I am explaining the steps to a sponsee/newcomer I frequently refer to it, because working the steps is building a room, I can describe the walls, the doors, the windows, but I can't describe the experience of being in the room until you build your own

Technically, I guess closer to anything I am a Taoist, which is simply "Sh1t Happens", literally translated The "Tao Te Ching" just means The Book of the virtue of how things are. There is no deity in Taoism, basically the premise is sh1t rolls downhill, and if you have a problem with that it's your problem, and if you stand downhill from said sh1t, your gonna get a mouthful. The "Acceptance speech' in the BB is taoism at it's finest.

You could "label" me an Atheist and an Agnostic, because technically I am, but I feel I am "Gnostic" which comes from the Greek word "Gnosis' which means "knowledge" a Gnostic, or my version thereof believes I can "evolve" as it were and that any "bit" of "God" I ever will be found will be in my own heart, When I see the word "God" I use the dictionary definition "The Great Reality"

If you don't believe in Reality get a staple gun, put about fifteen staples in your body, maybe one or two in your eyeball, then get back to me. That's what I mean by "reality". "The Great Reality" to me just means everything and everything in it, so I can "see" the word "God" and not be bothered by it, I don't believe in a deity, I don't believe in an "Otherness".

The First Chapter in The Tao Te Ching says, That which can be explained is not the way things are, and the way things are can't be explained.

I can build a house, paint it, furnish it, and describe it to the best of my ability, I can describe the walls, the windows, the floor etc, but what I can NEVER explain is "the space" inside the house and that is what I actually live in. All I can ever convey to you is what color the walls are and what it looks like, I can never give you the experience of being inside my house unless you do the work and come and visit me.

That is the problem in a nutshell with spirituality and the Big Book, all the words, the mention of the word God, the HE, and FATHER, and GUIDING INTELLIGENCE, is just what color the walls are "painted" by the men who "painted" in the only colors they knew, which was the language of Christianity. I call this language baby poop green. I had to get past the fact I hated baby poop green and actually read what these men were saying while tossing the Christian language out in order to build my own room.

Then I painted it my own color