How many times have you worked the steps?

SoberSteve · MIP Old Timer

How many times have you worked the steps?

pinkchip · MIP Old Timer

Steve, working the steps is really just a process of studying them and learning them. We work them every day all the time. Read step 12... The steps don't mean anything unless you live them. All the paperwork you are doing and formal discussion is to give you an educated framework so as to tackle life in a new, constructive, spiritually grounded manner, as opposed to the self-defeating and selfish way we all used to do things.

So...I try to "do" the steps to the best of my ability daily. I may need to hit the 12 and 12 and big book and pencil and paper again down the road but for now, I'm going off what I learned from the first go round.

Jerry F · MIP Old Timer

I learned it the way you are learning it and then came to practicing it just like Pink Chip said it...365X24/7X32+. It really is how we learn to live a process that with practice gets better and better.

Great thread...I'm listening to what's coming up. (((((hugs))))) smile

turninggrey · MIP Old Timer

Hey Steve,
I am human and have gotten lazy in the past. I now try and keep them in my quiet reflection time and the book "24 hours a day"
http://www.hazelden.org/web/public/thought.view?catId=1901

does go through them in a slow manner. That is kind of how I keep it simple. It becomes a "maintenance" program after awhile, with the warning being that lazyness will creep up on all of us.

Tom

Stepchild · MIP Old Timer

Since you have come to believe in a Power greater than yourself can restore you to sanity (Doesn't mean you are nuts...It's the insanity of picking up that first drink or thinking whiskey is OK if you drink it with milk....stuff like that)...You might as well make a decision whether you want that Power to run the show or you want to do it your way. By the way, your will is your thoughts...and your life is the action you take on those thoughts. So you are really only making a decision...which is useless without any action taken...The way that you work step three is by working steps 4-12. The best advice I can give you on step four is don't do it alone...Ask the guy you just put in charge for help. I prayed more for willingness, honesty and courage than I did writing on this step. I put my Higher Power, which I call God, right to work when I finished with step three. I think he did a lot of the writing. He's the best Boss I've ever had, and I used him throughout all the steps. When you have a Power like that on your side....Why not use it? Good luck...And try and have some fun with these steps...They are only going to give you Power, Peace, Happiness and a sense of direction in life...All you have to is ask for some help..

Fyne Spirit · MIP Old Timer

Hi Steve, you are in a process with your sponsor so I hesitate to muddy the waters. Stepchild expresses the instructions in the Big Book very well and it has indeed been my experience that the proof I did step 3 was the fact that I went on immediately to the next step, and then the next and so on, just as the book suggests. Stepchild suggests don't do step 4 alone and I concur. It was God's will for me to do step four, it hardly could be mine, but my mental capacity and ability to write and think were severely impaired so my sponsor spent a full day with me, helping me get step 4 into some kind of order that I could understand. I had a real problem with the meanings of words and what it meant to feel certain things. I had to have each little thing explained. Don't get hung up on four, it is not meant to be a literary masterpiece, merely an inventory of "our grosser handicaps". " We have admitted certain defects; we have ascertained in a rough way what the trouble is, we have put our finger on the weak items in our personal inventory."

I still have my 4th step and I go through it now and again. If it were submitted for a school examination it would rate very poorly. It's untidy and doesn't look all that comprehensive. But it was the best I could do at the time, It is honest and, rather unexpectedly, it is surprisingly accurate. It probably was not complete but that is not the issue. The important thing was that I did the best I was able, with all the willingness I could muster, and it did the trick. Anything inadvertently missed I was brought back to later, no big deal.

Steve, the steps can only be understood in hindsight, not in advance. That is what faith is all about. So you admit powerlessness, either believe or are willing to believe that a power greater than you can restore you to sanity, through the payer on page 63 you hand over your will and life and ask instructions on what to do next. which is written on page 64. " Though our decision was a vital and crucial step, it could have little permanent effect unless at once followed by a strenuous effort to face and 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."

God bless,

Mike H.

PS. to answer your original question, from the day I was willing to go to any lengths, I worked steps 1 to 9 once and 10,11,12 more than 12,000 times. That's an over simplification but it puts things in perspective.

-- Edited by Fyne Spirit on Wednesday 23rd of November 2011 11:56:28 PM

SoberSteve · MIP Old Timer

Thank you for your input everyone!!! Im looking forward to completing them and using them everyday in my life!

Pythonpappy · MIP Old Timer

Hey SoberSteve, ...

Lots of good stuff being said here ... In my experience coming to AA, I found out that I couldn't be 'totally honest' with myself much less anyone else ... as is often said, I was in and out of AA for years ... When I went to Rehab the last time, I was fortunate to discover the reason for my previous failures to stay sober... For me, it was step three ... Oh I did the steps before, but I was never completely honest with the other members nor myself, I kept telling them what I thought they wanted to hear and I also wanted them to feel like I 'had it' ... But I couldn't have cheated anybody else the way I cheated myself ... I was delusional about my 'concept' of God and I found I never ever really turned my will over to Him, because I never had a concrete concept of Him ...

This time in Rehab, I came to know a God of my understanding with complete clarity ... Once I got past that, the rest was just taking action to do the rest of the steps ... Now I find myself doing like Fyne Spirit(Mike) said he does, working 10, 11, and 12 daily ... It's actually a way to live life ... the principles of the program are as necessary to me for life as the air I breathe ... the principles taught me an entirely new way to think ... they saved my life ... and still do 'one day at a time' ...

Take Care and God Bless,
Pappy

P.S. StepChild, ... You appear to have a maturity in the program that took me years to attain ... You go man ... hold on to this program for dear life ... God Bless

-- Edited by Pythonpappy on Thursday 24th of November 2011 01:22:35 AM

angelov8 · MIP Old Timer

Good thread. I wanted to figure everything out and really understaaand. I agree, that works better in reflection afterwards. The best tool to getting into the whole program(the way I see it today) is to cultuvate willingness and then do it the best I can. You sound like you might be there.

I was scrambled when I arrived in AA, and the whole point is to help with that. The whole way, the first time studying the steps, I was so concerned with getting it right. Best to do the best a person can, right now. As mentioned, in step 12 we practice these principles in all our affairs, to the best of our ability. So today I use all the principles and tools embodied in the individual steps all the time. Sometimes I find I'm focusing on a particular one, cause that's what seems to be called for. It's all so helpful to live an easier, happier life, tho it may not feel that way in each moment.

My sponsor advocates an annual housecleaning to keep that fresh feeling going and I've done one. It was good for me, to know that I can look at something deeper, take out the trash and clean up my house when necessary. The annual one is typically much smaller and less involved, plus a person gets more practiced, so my sponsor points out.

Some people only do one really formal inventory and I think that's fine too. And getting to step ten, I see that there are tools to help on a daily basis.

I've continued going consistently for 2.5 years to a 12X12 step/traditions study that goes through that book paragraph by paragraph. It doesn't get old, at least so far for me. I always see something different each time, and there are different members sharing on the paragraphs each time through the book, so I get to hear a different emphasis.

I really enjoy and so appreciate what the program offers. I hope you are able to go to it and get it down and keep on going. This work leads to the promises, I promise!

Stepchild · MIP Old Timer

Thanks Pappy. I love to learn about this program....remain teachable. They say you have to give what you have to keep it in this program. That does not include my sobriety date. You guys have a great, clean and sober Thanksgiving.

wagon · Senior Member

My sponcor said, live the steps. As the others said it a process of learning how to live a life with peace and happiness. Wagon

Pythonpappy · MIP Old Timer

Stepchild wrote:
Thanks Pappy. I love to learn about this program....remain teachable. They say you have to give what you have to keep it in this program. That does not include my sobriety date. You guys have a great, clean and sober Thanksgiving.

Thanks Stepchild, ...

I hate to tell you this, but you've already given your 'sobriety' date to us! ... It's in June and that's all I'll say here if you want to leave it out ... But that was the observation I wanted to make ... Your short time in the program has shown to me that you've made significant progress ... the kind of progress that took me years ... You are truly blessed and are an inspiration not just to me, but I'm sure to many others as well ... I'm am so glad you joined this web site ...

I pray that you too, have a happy Thanksgiving ... God Bless,

Pappy

Stepchild · MIP Old Timer

What I mean Pappy is...My sobriety date (July 1st) is the only part of my program I won't give away...That I'm going to keep. Looks like a cool site.....I'm glad I found it. I'm going to put myself to a test today...That is to see if there is really something in turkey that puts you to sleep. Due to my past experience with alcohol and Thanksgiving, I wouldn't know...

Pythonpappy · MIP Old Timer

Hey StepChild, ... Sounds like a great test you're going to take ... and ya know? ... after I posted that last message, the thought occured to me that you might just mean 'not giving your sobriety away' ... Good way to view it .... Take Care ... Love ya brother, Pappy

-- Edited by Pythonpappy on Thursday 24th of November 2011 11:17:43 AM

-- Edited by Pythonpappy on Thursday 24th of November 2011 11:18:04 AM

leeu · MIP Old Timer

I worked each step once, following the Big Book, and then copied & pasted them into my daily life.

John · Admin

I remember whining to my sponsor about something (won't go into details) and He asked me... "what step do you think applies to that?" I thought for a moment, and started to say "step....." and He immediately interupted and said I was wrong! I looked at him with a question mark on my face... he said...

"We practice these prinicple"S", (as in pural, not singular) in ALL of our affairs..."

That being how I was raised in the progam of alcoholics anonymous, I have worked the 12 steps in one form or another every day for many, many days, many many times... until they are pretty much a knee jerk response to life on life's terms, and do not need to be "worked", but simply became a way of life.

Doing the initial step work on paper was for the point of gaining familarity and coming to understand their practical application to me and my life.

When I got here, what I heard was not very attractive..."work" the steps (I was not one fond of the word work), "take your good for nothing self and go do some good "for nothing" for somebody else" (and not get paid???) and the real hard one to grasp..."don't get romantically or sexually or intimately involved for your first year"...(You mean I can't get laid??") He smiled and said, "well I don't want you screwing any one... besides you've already screwed yourself enough!" LOL

What I didn't understand or think was a very attractive way to start my sobriety turned out to be the very thing I needed to get and stay sober.. work the steps as a way of life, do something daily for someone else without attaching a I.O.U to it, and stop screwing everyone, including myself.

John

Pythonpappy · MIP Old Timer

Dag gum John, ...

TKO ... Nail on the head ... BAM, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout! ... you reminded me of 'Manard' on 'Dobbie Gillis' many years ago on B & W TV, my idol, when anyone said the word 'work' he'd shreek, 'WORK' out loud like it was a real bad word ... good one!!!

That's your opinion ...... and it oughtta be mine ... HeeHee :)

John · Admin

leeu wrote:
I worked each step once, following the Big Book, and then copied & pasted them into my daily life.

I love how you worded this!!

John · Admin

Pythonpappy wrote:
Dag gum John, ...

TKO ... Nail on the head ... BAM, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout! ... you reminded me of 'Manard' on 'Dobbie Gillis' many years ago on B & W TV, my idol, when anyone said the word 'work' he'd shreek, 'WORK' out loud like it was a real bad word ... good one!!!

That's your opinion ...... and it oughtta be mine ... HeeHee :)

I get a kick out of some of your responses... this one had me literally laughing out loud in such a way that Violet, my gf thought I had someone in the house I was talking with LOL

Pythonpappy · MIP Old Timer

Hey John, ... thanks

Ain't it great to be able to laugh again? ... and too, I think Humor is a great catalyst for recovery ... In fact, who'd want what we have if we couldn't laugh at ourselves from time to time?

Love you and the wisdom you share so freely,
God Bless,
Pappy

John · Admin

Where in the Big Book do we get told we have any power???

Pg. 132

So we think cheerfulness and laughter make for usefulness. Outsiders are sometimes shocked when we brust into merriment over a seemingly tragic experience out of the past. But why shouldn’t we laugh? We have recovered, and have been given the power (the power! :)... to help others.