Cunning, baffling, powerful. The AA book uses these 3 adjectives to describe alcohol. Not surprising, that we who are alcoholic are prone to relapse. Once a relapse happens, the power of alcohol will destroy us, because our bodies are physically allergic to alcohol. The tragedy is we do not see it, until it is too late.
My sponsor intervened very early in my life, and I am always grateful to him for that, because I was ignorant of an imminent relapse some 21 years ago. I always cleaned house with him, annually at least, by working, vigorously on steps 4 to 9. After years of abstinence, my mind might possibly hide a thought of a hidden relapse. Therefore daily work on my spiritual life is absolutely vital for my ultimate survival in this world.
My alcohol problem takes the highest priority otherwise:
That is a wide awake post. Relapse is a most important subject for me also. We always go back to where we stopped and not to where we first started. Wisdom from the old timers just for me. Mahalo Gonee...I'm sure I was supposed to read this as much as you were to post it. ((((hugs))))
Sounds like you do a lot of hard work. Good for you for having this willingness!
Just one thing here, we only do step 4 once. After that, we do a simple daily inventory to keep our house in order so it doesn't build up and we get sick again. This is Step 10. We want to stay spiritually fit.
Some of us feel the need at some point to do another fairly sizeable inventory altogether, esp if something big has happened in our lives, and that would be called an extended 10th step.
I think SLIP can also stand for spirituality loses its priority! Great post, Gonee. :)
__________________
I think there's an invisible principle of living...if we believe we're guided through every step of our lives, we are. Its a lovely sight, watching it work.
The 10th step is a continuation of step 4, same precise thing. Once we are taught how to inventory we simply continue it - but what we learn will be constantly deeper in the 10th as we grow. 4th step is from the day we start it going back to our birth or first memory. 10th step is the rest of our lives going forward. Same exact directions, same procedure. I inventory daily and because my 4th step is gone forever, going forward it is simply called a 10th step. Directions for Step 10 are very clear on pages 84-87.
The directions for step 4 (around page 64 or something) do not say "yearly inventory".
We can't retake the 3rd step either. We already did it once, committing to God we were going to live a new way of life. It's not like we get back down on our kn ees and say, "I'm going back to my old way of living God, forget the arrangement we had."
We're human and the latter steps are continued for a lifetime - imperfectly.
Not meaning to split hairs here, just important to give out the right information.
-- Edited by odat on Sunday 16th of September 2012 12:32:27 PM
I agree with Gonee here. If I only do the fourth step once, I'm only hurting myself. I've been sober for awhile and notice that I tend to have a selective memory when doing a 10th step. Sometimes things/actions get lost, misplaced, forgotten, etc., etc. as i go along my daily life. . Any business that fails to do a yearly inventory is just looking for trouble.
The steps and the fellowship give me a daily repreve from disease of alcoholism. Just like the many times I decide to become God, realize my mistake, and retake the third step, so I should go back occasionally and redo the fourth AND fifth.
